Not Beat Yet
by Padfoot's Fire
Summary: COMPLETE. It's Harry Potter's 6th year. He's up for a year filled with stealing, fighting, death, family, and professional Quidditch. He's driven to succeed but it cannot be done by Harry Potter, everyone thinks he's dead. Harry goes in disguise.
1. Who Said Summer Wasn't Fun?

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, (J. k Rowling does alright) I simply love it so much that I felt I should put my superior writing abilities to work and maybe have some fun with the idea. **

Who Said Summer Wasn't Fun?

Harry Potter was currently in the back of the Dursley's car squashed between the door and Dudley , not really listening to his uncle who was listing all the rules for the summer. It actually wasn't that bad, Mad–Eye Moody was a very intimating man (biggest understatement of the year if you ask any one of the defense students, most of all Harry) and Harry strongly suspected this is why his uncle was being so lenient about them. For example, rule 1 was "if you have to use you freakish ways, make sure you stay away from normal people" and rule 2 "You will be up and out of the house every morning before us so we don't have to see you". Sure they didn't seem to be nice laws but at least those rules he intended on following. He really didn't want to wake up and look at them either. But rule 11 was another story. "You will do all the house chores" Not bloody likely! After what happened to Sirius, well, Harry was planning on getting stronger to protect everyone he had left. And it really was his responsibility to be strong considering that HE was supposed to beat old Voldie; he needed to be the best.

Finally the car drove up to Privet drive and as the house came into view he couldn't help but think about how he could have been with Sirius now. After what happened at the Ministry, Fudge can hardly deny Sirius's innocence now "Stop it don't think about him" Harry told himself again, about the hundredth time since the Department of Mysteries. Eyes watering, he got out of the car with Uncle Vernon listing rule number 78 and quietly made his way to Dudley 's second bedroom. He really refused to call it his room as Hogwarts was really his home (despite the hard times of every year) and he would be giving Dudley the room back as soon as he could. He stood facing that dreaded door, heaved sigh in resignation and opened it to reveal the room exactly the way it was when he left, minus the school things he had in his trunk behind him.

He had kind of assumed that Dudley would take over while he was gone, a kind of pay back for having a good summer last year (so far as they knew). Then again knowing the Dursley's, it was probably contaminated because Harry had been in it. Laughing harshly for his own foolishness and their ridiculous logic, he dragged his trunk in the corner, placed a sleeping Hedwig and her cage in its usual place and flopped onto the bed. While staring moodily at the ceiling he let his mind wander (something Snape wouldn't like).

"My last chance for a family after all, wonder what I did to piss off fate this much." It was so pathetic. How could he just charge out after Sirius like that? He should have listened to Hermione. Every year something screwed happens for a try at his life, hadn't he learned yet? Sirius… Harry had to play the hero. Well really! If he didn't who would? Dumbledore; maybe when hell freezes over would that old man think to rescue his own. Thinking he could take on Voldie and save Sirius. With no consideration for his friends either. "Well that's not true" he thought to himself and to justify his reasoning added "I did try to stop them". And so these sullen thoughts ran through his head every moment, he was always fighting back the urge to just cry it all out like a girl or simply trash his room like he had Dumbledore's office. In fact he probably would have destroyed the place if all the things in it weren't his.

But at least living on Privet drive wasn't going to be all about him being a slave to everyone anymore. Course according to rule number 11 it was, he had yet to talk to them about that.

After an hour of contemplating his own stupidity, Harry went for a jog out around the neighbor hood, never going too far from privet drive for his own safety. Lupin had advised him to get in shape, because in a duel, getting tired can mean death. He didn't stop once and pushed himself, motivated by trying to absolutely kill the poor auror who was on watch. He was certain they would have strict rules about watching him, so they must have to follow him, running the whole way too. His suspicions were confirmed when he finished his exercise and headed to the house instead of going around the block again, he was almost certain he heard a gasping voice say "thank Merlin, I have got to stop smoking." Was it Mundungous then? "Wow, that man must absolutely hate being on my guard. That time with the dementors, now this!" Harry thought with a laugh. Overall he estimated that he went a good 5 kilometers. Technically 5 km wasn't something to brag about but it was only his first run. Screw that, next time he'd absolutely kill Dung (no, not shit people) "Note to self find out Dung's schedule and get the bugger into shape" Harry thought evilly with a smirk on his face to rival Malfoy's.

Upon entering the number 4 Privet drive Harry's nose was hit with the smell of spaghetti, spaghetti that he was probably supposed to make. " Oh ya, oooops. Guess now's the time to tell them I'm not doin their work then." He thought lamely. In an attempt to postpone that conversation, Harry slowly and carefully closed the door and proceeded upstairs to take a shower. Having retrieved clean clothes (albeit rather enormous hand-me-downs) he headed to the washroom for a cold shower. His hand on the door knob, he was about to enter when a heavier hand landed on his shoulder and whipped him, his back now against the said door to face Uncle Vernon. The enormous monstrosity of a man leaned in close to Harry (_how could he stand Harry's smell? Well can't say uncle Vernon smells great himself you know_) and yelled, spit flying "where've you been boy? You were to cook diner! You think you can just sneak out ignore your work!"

Harry, totally discussed by this awesome display of bad breath, stood straight forcing his uncle to stand back a slightly. Forcing his voice to be calm and even enough to rival Dumbledore's he replied "I don't plan on cooking your meals or cleaning your house. I'm only here for the summer and I want to make use of it." For a minute he thought he had performed accidental magic and had done the same thing he did to Marge. His uncle seemed to be swelling and the veins in his head were popping slightly and his breathing was harsh. Harry was actually a little intimidated himself now, though nowhere near as threatening as Voldemort he still made Mrs. Weasley's temper seem sweet.

Having been startled by his uncle's sheer increase in size he didn't anticipate what happened next. Uncle Vernon pulled his arm back and smashed it across Harry's face, breaking his glasses. The force of the blow had Harry facing the door again and he was altogether too shocked to turn and return the favour. He wasn't even given the chance though as he heard large thumping sounds retreating down the stairs. He had never been hit outright like that by uncle Vernon !

"That's it?" he wondered. "End of conversation?" Or was he expected to make up for the work tomorrow? Harry quickly had his shower, careful with his face. Feeling refreshed with clean hair, no matter how messy, and a sweat free body, he bend down to turn off the shower and saw red mixed with the water going down the drain. "What!" He hastily got out and examined his face. He was sure bleeding, after his minute shower a cut about an inch from his right eye was still bleeding freely. The area around his eye was a striking purple colour and was swollen, though he could see through it. It was amazing the shampoo hadn't stung at all. His glasses had probably cut him, that or his uncle had taken to wearing rings in anticipation of hitting him. Without the use of magic Harry had to use muggle first aid to fix himself.

10 minutes later Harry Potter was in his room. He had to use three blue Band-Aids to cover the cut and a lot of toilet paper and cold water to make it stop bleeding. He knew he wouldn't need stitches as it wasn't deep, but his head hurt like Buckbeak had trampled him. With his glasses broken beyond being fixed with tape (not that he had actually tried) he was now in a very, very bad mood.

He supposed he should tell the order and they would easily fix the glasses, mend his eye and scare Uncle Vernon shitless. But something inside said no; he was here to become strong and he couldn't go running to anyone for help. Praying that uncle Vernon wouldn't be too smug about the work he had done on Harry's eye he marched on downstairs to confront them. He had it planned out now. He would wait until the whole family was together then he would begin his conversation. How it would be an awful shame if one of them was turned into a piggy again and most definitely not his fault he was mistreated and scary type wizards showed up at the door. And if that didn't work, he could actually tell the order and have them fix everything, and maybe inform them that perhaps the front lawn was to green and needed to be burned, or turned purple.

Having reached the living room he glared at the Dursley family conveniently gathered together watching a movie. Uncle Vernon was the first to look up and he was apparently grading his work as he was staring at his black eye. Seemingly the man noticed his bright blue Band-Aids as he smirked then looked at his wife next to him. Effing Bastard.

Like a silent signal or pre planned course of action, it was aunt Petunia who rose and exited the room, Harry in tow. What was she doing? Pure curiosity was the only reason he didn't stomp over to the TV and bust in the screen. That or common sense. Aunt Petunia led him to the kitchen where she flat out refused to reheat the spaghetti for him, claiming he should have made it in the first place. So as Harry grumpily popped a rather large portion of the leftovers in the microwave, she (Harry nearly stopped breathing here) served tea using mugs in stead of the plastic cups Harry always got though she didn't seem too happy about it. "Suck up" he decided. They had a talk while Harry stuffed his face.

She first stated that the plastic cups were disgustingly old and had been thrown away. She grudgingly explained that there wouldn't be another "incident" where Uncle Vernon like it ever as they felt very bad about it (more than likely they were scared of an incident like their lawn being turned purple) but that Harry would have to do all the chores and all other rules his uncle Vernon had so kindly listed for him. He refused flat out and lightly threatened it would be such a shame if the freakish wizards turned up and made a mess and the neighbors started asking questions and…. Well he got cut off soon after that.

They came to an "agreement". To ensure that he was indeed being treated right and thus no visits from his fellow freaks, aunt Petunia promised that he wouldn't get hit again and that she would take him to the mall sometime. In return she wanted Harry to keep wizards out of the house and exclude his accident as she called it, from his letters. In addition he was to accentuate how great a time he is having with his caring relatives. He also had to avoid uncle Vernon , and if he must, to do his running every morning, preferably (meaning if not then you might fall down the stairs or your diner will land on the floor. Gee oops) before they got up. He agreed but only if he got contacts instead of glasses to replace the broken ones. Damn annoying things in a battle.

**A/N**

You know the drill. Press the button that says "Go".


	2. Makin Life Work

Chp.2 Makin Life Work

It was morning the next day and Harry had just back in from his run, having gone not as far as yesterday due to fucking sore muscles. He had slept well (aunt Petunia gave him an "Advil" after he was done eating and it kinda knocked him out) and he seriously doubted it was an innocent drug, never mind Advil. More like a sleeping pill advertised in the child care magazine for crazy peoples united; maybe a label advertisement such as "Guaranteed to sleep for up to 12 hours!" They left him to do whatever he wanted, which was actually a negative thing as it left him with nothing to distract himself and therefore too much time for thinking and self pity. He had yet to ask the order for study books or something otherwise productive.

The next few days went pretty hard for him. He was depressed, Sirius was dead and he still had to move on. Which is a very hard thing in itself, but in this house being where all he could keep thinking was "I could have hid a big black dog in my room." He stepped up exercise as it kept his mind off everything and stayed away from the Dursley's as much as possible. As a last resort Harry sorted through his school books from all the way back to his first year and marveling at the fact that he hadn't thrown them out or given them to Ginny made a list of charms, hexes and such he could practice when he went back to school. He reread all of his history books finding that they weren't actually boring; Professor Binns just made them that way. He found that they weren't helpful with advice on how to defeat all powerful dark wizards, but still interesting. Unlike previous years he didn't eat in his room all the time. He liked sitting on the top of the stairs and they served him good portions. He seriously doubted he would be hungry at all if not for the running.

Two weeks later his aunt finally declared that his eye was back to normal and he went on his very first trip to the mall to buy something for himself. His aunt didn't actually take him shopping; more like gave him money and shooed him into a store. Not that he was complaining. Like he would want to wear anything his aunt thought was acceptable anyway. In the end he got some casual clothes and work out clothes and he didn't have to pay a cent. Last thing aunt Petunia had lost his prescription and so he had to get tested again. He hadn't gotten checked in years and discovered to his chagrin that his eye sight had of course worsened. And that was saying something. The dude that checked his eyes asked him with a smile on his face if he would like a walking stick so as not to bump into the walls while he waited for his contacts to come in.

He was currently sitting on the living room couch trying to watch TV. Yes trying. For one thing, everything on it was either a big fuzzy blob or a small one and for another in his life he never just sat down and watched the thing and now he was having a problem trying to figure out how it entertained people; all he could watch was the news. It wasn't even that informing. But hell, he was going to make an attempt anyways; anything to distract him from thinking of Sirius. He changed the channel and found himself staring at the screen. It was a trial and some well dressed man was being charged with murdering his wife and was pleading guilty. Now there is someone who doesn't deserve a trial! What a waste of the juries' time. Sirius should have – his train of thought being cut of by Dudley who entered the room.

"What's the matter Potter? That man one of your freaky friends? I'll bet you make friends with murderers all the time, though why they would want to be your friend is beyond me."

Harry stood shaking slightly. His words were to close to the mark and his lack of grieving (crying) was leaving him just itching for someone to take it out on. "Yes, I understand Dudley, a lot is beyond you." Harry retorted his voice as smooth and cold as ice.

Although Dudley's words had stopped Harry from having a break down in front of the TV, he had probably just made Harry choose a more violent and average teenage rebellion outlet. Before Dudley could get more than a confused look on his face Harry's fist had connected hard with it sending Dudley to his knees and causing pain to shoot through Harry's hand. Standing, fists raised and a determined expression to match he braced himself for a return attack. Dudley stood furiously glaring at Harry. His nose was bleeding and veins were popping out of his head and he was turning a strange purple colour making him appear very much like Uncle Vernon, unreasonable and dangerous. He suddenly felt it was his turn to meet a fist or flee from the room. And he couldn't say he was much wrong.

Dudley made a great roar of fury and charged fists flying at him. Although Harry hadn't been in Quidditch for a while his reflexes kicked in and next second he could be found pulling out of Dudley's way in a summersault and was on his feet again. Dudley was charging again (looking ridiculously like a rhinoceros) and Harry wondered if the Order would interfere. Surely Sirius would. Sirius…With this desperate thought Dudley was fired away from Harry with the force of a wrecking ball back first straight through the bay window. Accidental magic is useful! Who knew! Sagging with relief he let his knees fall weakly to the floor, which was actually, quite a stupid thing to do. "Rug burn" he vaguely found himself thinking. Crack! Harry gasped at the sudden additional pain and promptly bit his lip holding down the urge to rant off an example of his "colourful" vocabulary, as something very large had just stepped on his ankle. Uncle Vernon? Finally sitting down he held his ankle examining the damage which actually made him look like a 2 year old sucking on his foot. Aunt Petunia raced past his form on the floor straight through what used to be the window to aid their "Diddykins"

"Wow that must have hurt. I hope I broke damn Duddy Diddykins nose at least." About then one Nymphadora Tonks raced into the room, and though he couldn't see her Harry knew who it was as she promptly forgot to walk around him and instead nearly ran right over him; nearly because she in fact tripped over him, which in all honesty really hurt.

Being knocked over wouldn't have actually hurt all that much, but it was then that he realized that his adrenaline or whatever it was wearing off and consequently, landing on ones hurt ankle might hurt a bit more than normal. It felt, like the time the bludger had broke his arm, only a lot worse. So he screamed loud with his voice cracking. It did accomplish one thing, Tonks got off him. Thankfully she didn't land on his ankle. Still howling he didn't notice Tonks pick up her fallen wand and point it at him. "Silencio" she yelled over his voice. Abruptly he lost his voice and couldn't release his pain. Biting his lip he glared at her for a moment before looking at his ankle again. Yup, it was broken; the left ankle; just perfect. Deducing that his uncle hadn't actually followed the diet either and that he wasn't going to be walking on it he looked up at Tonks again for assistance only to find that she wasn't there. They couldn't drop him after they knew he was alive! The Dursley's wouldn't take him to the hospital for it themselves, not to mention what uncle Vernon would do to him for his use of magic. With these thoughts running through his head and fear making his heart rate jump and his breath quicken Harry turned looking frantically about the room. Not being able to call for help was one thing, but now he couldn't use magic, despite the fact that his wand was upstairs in his room.

Upon hearing his uncle yell in fright he found Tonks. Raising his head as high as he could without moving his foot Harry he could just see a fuzzy blue ball with blurry pink thing on top next to a darker blue and black blob, which was making a lot of noise, clearly not dead. More than a little pissed off at her concern for Dudley and not him as was her job he tried to get upright. Careful to avoid more pain, he got onto his knees, then one foot, and skillfully maneuvered his way to the window using the furniture and the TV which he noted was now showing the murderer being taken in by the police. Avoiding the glass that littered the carpet, he made his was to the now windowless wall and leaned against in for support and stared. "Wow, that's something I thought I'd never see as long as I live" was all his mind could come up with to describe the scene before him. Apparently while he was crossing the room the neighbors came out to see what the ruckus was, whether it was Harry's screaming or the window being broken he didn't know, nor much care. Without his glasses Harry couldn't get a great visual on the scene but there was a great deal of "is he okay?", "what happened?", "shouldn't someone call an ambulance?" And even one "who's that, with the pink hair?" Normally this would have been the time when Harry marched upstairs, got his trunk and left but not wanting to go through another obstacle course, he simply stood watching, still unable to make a sound.

Nobody noticed the boy in the house as he hoped across the room, save one Mad Eye Moody across the street who was due to begin his shift any minute. Recognizing Harry Potter leaning on the window frame he immediately he breathed a sigh of relief, better gimped than thrown out a window. What had happened anyway? They were attacked or it was a trap, he just knew it. Where were the Deatheaters? "Fool Dumbledore, we should have expected something like this to happen." He thought grumpily. What was Potter doing anyway! He should be the smallest possible target; down low to the ground. He was just asking for a hex to fry off his ass. Wasting no more time he quickly (as fast as possible on a wooden leg) made his way across the road onto the perfect lawn till he met the small crowd.

By now Harry had got some sense and was actually hiding from view standing against the inside wall instead of the window. His attitude changed rapidly from satisfaction, to nervousness, to dread. He didn't feel a bit bad about Dudley, but feared what the Dursley's would do about his actions. Dumbledore really couldn't take him from the house yet, and couldn't prevent the Dursley's from harming him, no matter how many threats from the Order. And if the man did try to interfere it would only anger his relatives more. He wasn't looking forward to the time when they would deal out his punishment, no matter how great it was to chuck Dudley out a window.

Hearing sirens, his curiosity overran his fear of being seen and so taking a quick peek round the nonexistent window, he could see how the pandemonium had leveled out. An ambulance had just arrived on the side of the road and was taking control of the situation. "Well that can't be good" he thought vaguely. The Order liked being in charge, and it was up to the ministry to deal with accidental magic. Granted, a hospital could fix Dudley up, but Harry would get in trouble for the bill too.

As he watched, his cousin was put on a stretcher and quickly brought to the ambulance. His aunt (the funny brown coloured blur) hurried into the vehicle too but his uncle identified as the largish tan and blue coloured fuzzy thing got in his car and followed the ambulance as it drove down the road. The lingering neighbors walked out of his sight, presumably to their homes to discuss the incident and gossip. The only people left were Tonks and another Order member he didn't recognize. He turned back against the wall, out of their sight. He knew he should get them to fix his ankle, but quite frankly he just didn't want to see them. It went against his decision to help himself. Ok, that and he STILL couldn't talk (although he felt he could make a small squeak sound if he really wanted to) and didn't particularly want to jump around again and land on the floor, just to get their attention. "Whatever, they can come and get me; when they remember to."

Harry's mood changed drastically when he had this brilliant idea: "They are fully qualified wizards. They can just make the Dursley's forget this whole thing and no danger for me!" A smile would have been on his face if his ankle wasn't still broken. He sat down gingerly with his back still resting against the wall.


	3. Moody Takes Control

Moody Takes Control

Harry was holding his left leg trying to lessen the pain when a shadow crossed over him. Looking up expecting to see clumsy Tonks, whom he wasn't impressed with right now he saw Moody instead. The man bent down next to him and Harry looked for Tonks. They wouldn't leave him with only one guard would they? Busy with these fretful thoughts and maybe in a little shock Harry was completely ignoring Mad-eye. The man got his attention by giving a light whack on the head. Now rubbing his head in an irritated way he glanced up at Mad-eye in a much rejected way.

"You listening to me boy? What happened? Where are the Deatheaters?" Moody demanded gruffly looking at Harry in an urgent way. Opening his mouth to ask in return what he was talking about he was embarrassed when he only succeeded in making the expected squeak he produced in place of his voice.

"Come on Potter, this is no time to wimp out; answer me! I need to know what happened!" pausing he looked around the coloured part of his magical eye whizzing in and out of view. He apparently found what he was looking for as he yelled in the direction of the stairs "Eh Smith! Bring the squad down here already. Potter won't answer, we're leaving."

"Just a sec" a voice responded but Moody sharply said "NOW!"

There was the sound of feet shuffling about in what Harry felt sure was the room he stayed in and then he saw the squad rush down the stairs. To him they looked like various coloured crayons. The squad consisted of about 5 people; Tonks included who was first coming down fell on the stairs. She was probably first because (assuming the others knew her) felt that she would drag them down too if they were unlucky enough to be the one in front of her. "Good thinking on their part" he found himself thinking in an amused way despite the situation. Stepping neatly around her they stood around in circle formation (Tonks was still on the stairs righting herself) and Harry wished that Tonks would fix his voice already. Feeling very uncomfortable sitting on the floor suddenly thinking that Moody was very tall he tried to get up. He succeeded and one wizard he didn't know asked him if he was hurt, which he personally felt was pretty obvious. In no mood to play with hand signals he indicated to the right slightly with his head and the squad parted. Why nobody was helping him to walk when he started hopping across the room towards the stairs was beyond him. Just the decent thing to do isn't it? "Maybe I look so pissed of with the black eye and green eyes they don't want to be near me?" He pondered angrily as he almost tripped over himself yet again.

Finally he reached the banister where Tonks was waiting curiously for him. He pointed angrily at his throat several times mouthing "fix it" before she finally got it, and only then because he had gotten his voice to a stained hoarse version instead of the incomprehensible squeak. Directing her wand at his throat she said the counter curse. With one hand now massaging his sore throat he thanked her (his voice normal) saying "Bout time" thinking "what a git." He turned away from a sheepish looking witch to answer Moody and found that they had followed him across the room. Rolling his eyes he addressed Mad-eye saying "There were no Deatheaters. Me 'n Dudley had a fight. That's all." Moody was looking him up and down and Harry had the uncomfortable thought that Mad-eye was checking him out. Dismissing it he looked at the other's and asked "can someone erase the Dursley's memory for me? I don't think that's something they need to remember. O maybe both neighbors too." He added thoughtfully.

He was brought back when the same wizard that asked him if he was hurt exclaimed "We got sent out here because the kid had a fit!" Harry felt a twinge of anger at being called a kid and opened his mouth to object when Moody but in stating they still had to bring Harry back with them and report it.

As everyone turned to go Tonks whispered something to Moody and a troubled look crossed his face, his magical eye facing the back of his head was probably watching the rest of the wizards who had stopped to wait, while his normal one was staring at Harry. What was she telling him? He was sure she wouldn't care if he had hit Dudley, if she knew about that at all. Mad-eye approached Harry who was now balancing himself against the banister and asked "how's your leg boy?"

Relief swept through him like a tidal wave and Harry fought to keep his face from showing anything other than concern for him. "Think my ankle's broken" he replied. Growling in frustration he flicked out his wand scaring Harry half to death. He still hadn't gotten over the time that Crouch in disguise as Moody had pointed a wand at him it was with the intent to kill him so it's easily understood that he's not to comfortable with him. Pointing it at Harry's chest he said some spell Harry didn't catch but the effects were obvious; Harry levitated a good 5 inches off the ground. Grabbing Harry's wrist he led Harry out the window (which he fixed afterwards with a quick reparo) and over to Figg's house. The other Order members had disapparated and Figg wasn't home. Moody steered Harry into the fireplace which was cramped with the both of them in it and called out "56 Birch Street."

"Where the?" Harry began but was sharply cut off by Moody who covered his mouth with a hand. "An entirely normal hand" Harry noted and having not released his hand Moody guided Harry in front of him out onto the sidewalk. Only once they exited the house did Moody release the hand from his mouth. Glancing at Moody he saw Moody shake his head no and Harry getting the hint remained silent. At least he could talk, a high improvement from a charm or hand keeping him from doing so, although he wished he had his wand. For all he knew this could be a Deatheater in disguise, again.

Turning a corner he felt he recognized the street. "Oh!" it was the street Headquarters was on. He didn't pay attention as he was guided in front of the wizard. He was bracing himself to visit the last place he wanted to be. Come on, there are worse places" he reminded himself tensely. Though he couldn't think off any off hand. All too soon they approached the houses next to Black Manor and even sooner he was scooted into the house.


	4. Are socks important? to me sis

Are socks important?

If he wasn't forced to shut his eyes in pain when Moody accidentally rammed his foot into the door frame on the way in he would have been quite shocked. And if he had better eye sight he would have seen that not even a speck of dust blemished the floor, and that the rather loud portrait was finally gone, replaced by a very large hole in the wall through which you could see straight out across the street. As it was, when he opened his eyes all he took to notice was that the entrance way had better lighting and unlike last time, didn't feel like he badly needed to sneeze.

Moody proceeded to guide him into the living room occasionally prodding him in the back for more momentum. Mad-eye then sat him down on a brownish moth eaten couch, sat his leg comfortably on a foot stool firmly told him not to move or else (Harry briefly had a vision of a bouncing ferret) and hurried from the room. A few moments later his clunking footsteps could be heard heading upstairs and Harry was left alone with pain in his leg and his mind thinking non to clearly.

Anyone would expect him to feel generally awful in that house so soon after Sirius's passing. But he didn't then, not really. Maybe he had his leg bumped to many times or it hadn't really sunk in yet, in any case the emotion replacing sorrow was disappointment. He had planned not to get involved with them. _Darn it after all that trouble with the black eye. As Sirius might say "Fuck this, I'm pissed". _(Note: For those of you that are against Harry's cussing, I figure Sirius certainly would just not as much around him.)

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard crashes upstairs just over his head. It sounded like maybe a desk was over turned followed by very loud and very angry voices. Deciding that it took to much energy and caused too much pain to get up and investigate the argument he ignored his curiosity and instead idly picked at the fuzz poking out of the couch.

Apparently picking at the furniture was a task which required all of Harry's attention and therefore did not notice that Remus Lupin was standing at the doorway. Remus was trying to restrain himself from jumping on the kid as his immediate instinct was telling him to. He felt this should be a happy greeting; Sirius would have absolutely tackled Harry. In the end he simply walked over as quietly as he could, making note of Harry's propped up leg. _Guess Mad-Eye wasn't exaggerating. That's one broken leg. Must be a very well cast shattering charm_.

Halfway across the rather large room he of course stepped on a soft spot resulting in a creak sound which inevitably gave away his approach. Harry looked up apparently very bored, then his eyes focused on himself and Remus didn't like what he saw in them. Harry was actually glaring at him, his jaw was clenched tight shut and his eyes were watering slightly adding to the angered look making it seem that he was so mad his head was going to pop off. _How can he be that mad at me? _In all honesty he hadn't done anything to warrant that look.

Harry is brought back to earth when he hears someone walking across the room. The last thing he wanted. He really didn't want to explain what happened, it was embarrassing now and, well, he didn't want to see an Order member, the very people he had promised himself to avoid. He wasn't mad at THEM so much as at himself. A very frustrating thing that. So he glared his best at Remus Lupin, the man he should be happiest to see.

The glaring only lasted moments before Moony (aka Remus) cracked and slowly walked forward again and tentatively sat next to Harry on the couch. Neither moved at first; Remus again broke the stand still by asking if he could put a spell on Harry so he wouldn't feel the pain. At first he was surprised by the question. His whole lower leg was smarting a bit. (Top ten under statements of the year.) He had assumed everyone who could help was to busy to see to him. Then he remembered that Moony cared a great deal for him (busy or not Remus was here now) there and agreed with a simple nod of his head. Moony got up and brushed himself off and pulled out his wand. Crouching next to Harry he rolled up Harry's pant leg until it was just above his knee. Next he banished his sock with a wave of his wand and spoke quietly, though distinctly the intended spell "pasindu". A small spray of baby blue light spread from his wand over his ankle as directed by Remus's hand. Harry wondered a bit irritated if he'd get the sock back, no matter how big and smelly Dudley's feet were, hand me down socks were better than none.

Apparently his work was done as Remus sat back down on the couch and stared at his now wand empty hands. The pain was beginning to fade, which actually felt kind of, odd. It was like it was being drained out of him. He figured a couple of minutes and it wouldn't hurt at all; not that he was gunna be walking on it. The silence was bugging Harry, if Remus had to be there then he could at least apologize for the Order's lack of organization or keeping him there in the first place. Or he could explain the argument upstairs! _Which – has stopped_? _Huh? When'd that happen? _Looking up at the ceiling confused he strained his ears to pick up voices, but nothing ever went his way. All he could make out were the foot steps of a few wizards thumping faintly against the wooden floor, _not as many people up there now_ he figured. But then where'd they go to?

Remus glanced at Harry whose sudden movement had caught his attention. The boy was staring at the roof, not the most fascinating past time he had to admit. He was waiting for Harry to start the conversation, but maybe that wasn't going to happen. He was frankly baffled as to why Harry was so mad at him. Did he blame him? For everything? Somehow he didn't think so.

He was about to try to get Harry to talk to him when said boy spoke up in a whisper "what's goin on upstairs?" When I said nothing he dragged his gaze from the ceiling and asked instead "why'd they stop fighting?" Why he had even noticed something like our "argument" was beyond me, he should have been preoccupied. I stumbled over my words sounding something like "wef thesll merph…" I was about to correct myself when Harry burst out laughing. He is so bizarre today. It was contagious or something, I began laughing at my words too. After all, he probably never heard a teacher figure mess up that bad. When we were both calm enough I cleared my throat and pronounced clearly "Mad- eye was badgering the rescue team before I came down. Dumbledore probably took care of it." Man, was that the wrong thing to say.

Harry instantly took on the angry look and asked with a hint of sarcastic pleasantness in his voice "he's here?"

Right at that moment a wizard charged down the stairs making a substantial bit of noise. He cut through the hallway past the room Remus and Harry straight to the room with the fireplace. What he did was apparent in a minute when Mme. Pomphrey raced into the room medical bag in hand, spotted Harry, ushered Remus out of the way and began asking questions. "What happened?" And "Where does it hurt?" Harry briefly considered asking for something to get rid of the constant headache he had without his glasses, but didn't want to explain the black eye and everything, not after all that effort! He could wait for the contacts. _It's not like they can get them in any faster. Well, maybe they could. _Point blank he didn't want them all to feel sorry for him. It was in a way actually pretty funny. The school year hadn't even stared yet and already he was in the care of the school nurse. That's one for the history books. A few waves of her wand she countered the pain release spell, fixed his ankle and had it mending, although she wasn't impressed. The nurse then did a second check of him, looking for any other injuries. She almost missed his eye seems the wound was healed after all but somehow she did. Magic. Her face darkened and she began putting her things away muttering something about talking to Dumbledore. Well she'll just have to wait her turn, I'm sure.

Remus had left the room and gone innocently (or perhaps not so innocently) to the Dumbledore designated part of the house, right above their heads. The second his leg stopped hurting he deemed it "walkonable" and quickly zipped out of the room, discovering that actually wasn't a good idea; the second his foot touched the ground his foot and the whole right side of his lower leg were shot with the pins and needles sensation. Ignoring the pain but wincing at every step he made his way upstairs ignoring Mme. Pimphrey (sorry Pomphrey) nagging him below to lie down. He was almost there when he heard Remus talking in the next room to his right and Harry noted happily that the door was ajar, for showing a bit of his Fred and George worthy perfected eavesdropping abilities.


	5. What Is Wrong With You People?

What Is Wrong With You People?

Walking as quietly and with as little amount pressure on his healing foot (the tingling sensation was just beginning to fade) he got as close to the door as he could. He didn't want to cast a shadow under the door, but didn't want to miss anything mentioned in the conversation. Back against yet another wall he tilted his head towards the door for maximum hearing, quieted his breathing and closed his eyes.

"Really Mr. Lupin, I didn't do a thing to the boy. He says it was his cousin."

"They're scared stiff of us! They'd never raise a hand to him. Really Mad-Eye, you used to be a better liar."

"You stupid werewolf, you're just upset about Black! There's no point in taking your anger out on me! I was there to guard him, not kill 'im!

"Fine, what bloody happened then!"

"Tonks was supposed to be watchin', but she missed it."

"How perfectly convenient."

"ASK POTTER, don't-"

The voice (sounding like Moody and probably was), was cut off by a much more calm voice, one he recognized as Albus Dumbledore. He said "Calm down both of you! I believe Remus, that Harry is being treated downstairs?" The conversation paused. Then "Good, but before we head down I wish to share a thought; please sit down."

Harry leaned eagerly closer to the door; this was getting interesting! But before the enticing conversation could even begin he heard foot steps approaching around the corner. He looked frantically for a quick hiding spot as quietly as he could. It wouldn't do to get caught now. He was positive listening in on conversations was not something done in as top secret organization, and right now it was pretty obvious that's exactly what his business was. Finding nowhere he made due with rushing back to the stairs; a good couple of meters away from the door) and sitting on the top step, forcing himself to look bored. His head rested lazily in his hands just when the owners of the footsteps traveled his hallway. His became back tense and he felt eyes staring at him, accusing him, about to get him kicked back down stairs. The person continued along, getting closer until they paused directly behind him.

"Well well, got bored I suppose? Not enough attention with your maids?" That voice! He could totally hear the sneer on Snape's face. That guy is so creepy!

Right then all Harry knew was that Snape was an enemy who was asking for verbal whiplash. After all the years of outright denial of such statements, he chose a different strategy. Harry momentarily forgot that he was trying to be quiet and got up and stood up straight, trying to appear threatening in some way (being only 5'5 didn't have the desired effect though) and replied evenly "Naturally, I just couldn't wait 'till September to see my slimy git of a teacher." Snape appeared stunned at his retort. That evidently wasn't what he had been expecting. Most likely that was just a straight out no. Just when Snape was opening his mouth to say something assuredly not nice he spoke again, cutting him off "I don't want to keep you, I'm sure you've something important to do. So I guess I'll see you at school. Sir." This was killing him; it took all of his restraint not to burst out laughing. Harry seriously doubted that Snape had ever been dismissed by a student, never mind a most hated Gryffindor.

Sneer firmly in place, Snape just had to have the last word. He said "Correct Mr. Potter. I am a great ally for our side; and you'd do well to remember that Fletcher is - of some benefit to us as well." With that he appeared satisfied with himself and continued his way down the stairs and out of sight, leaving a baffled Harry behind.

By Fletcher he meant Mundungous. But he knew Dung was in the Order and everything, so what was Snape talking about? Passing it off as Snape just being Snape he moved back to the door, cursing himself for taking so long. He could have missed something important! Mentally grumbling to himself, he listened carefully to their voices. Apparently he hadn't been caught, yet.

"Dumbledore" Moody's deeper voice said reasonably "the Potter boy will never agree to something like that. He's famous! Besides, Voldemort will never believe it unless he has proof. And how do you plan to give him that?

"I have always found a body very convincing evidence Alastor. Put a Deatheater in his place. It's not a solution to the war, but it will keep Voldemort from finding and killing Harry." Dumbledore stated.

"I agree with Moody. Harry has friends, he loves Hogwarts. He won't leave all that behind just because you say it's for his own safety. Don't get me wrong, I do want Harry safe. But at what price?" Professor Lupin asked.

"True, it would raise the danger for the general public but Harry is his target. The boy has been through enough."

The conversation paused for a minute, the speakers supposedly in thought. Harry thought it over too. What did they mean? It sounded like they wanted to ship him off to Mexico! Not gunna happen! What was that about, a body, and a Deatheater? Remus at least really understood him; no way in hell was he leaving his home.

Moody spoke up next, his voice loud after the dead silence "One boy's life is not worth that of thousands. I admit Voldemort's got it in for him; but this plan of yours?

Dumbledore argued "He is more important to the war effort than you know. He must be protected at all costs. Speaking of which, Alastor, how is he?"

_Smooth. Way to change the topic. _Harry thought to himself. _Mad-Eye and Remus don't know the prophecy then. Let's keep it that way._

Realization that they might go downstairs to check on him any second made him panicky. Giving up on the eaves dropping, he made to go back downstairs. And he would have made it just fine. Except…

"Hey Potter! You're supposed to be getting medical attention!" Moody's voice rang out. Harry froze. How could he have forgotten? Moody's Magical Whizzing Eyeball! Shit. Now he was shocked that he hadn't been caught earlier. He heard the weight lift off the chairs of couches with a squeak followed by the door opening full swing. A grimace on his face, Harry turned slowly to see Remus first at the door, Dumbledore just behind him and Moody next to Dumbledore. Remus looked extremely amused; which could only be expected as he probably did exactly what he'd just done with the Marauders years ago. Way to bring back memories! Rolling his eyes Remus walked out into the hall a bit hesitant (_probably because I gave him the coldest welcome ever, _Harry figured) and Harry smiled slightly, relieving the tension. Lupin embraced him in a quick hug and laughing lightly, Remus shooed everyone back into the room. Closing the door behind himself sheepishly he quickly surveyed the room. Small and filled only with three individual couches and a coffee table with (of course) a tea set upon it. Harry guessed that it was probably one of the bedrooms in the Manor; or maybe a closet. Glancing at Dumbledore he watched as a fourth couch was conjured for him and slumped into it. When everyone else present sat down hands on knees and proper Harry suddenly feeling like a teenage punk; hiding his nervousness he sat up and looked questioningly at each wizard.

He really couldn't believe it. Dumbledore was being manipulative again! Was he even going to tell him about his "plans" or just scold him for his rudeness and misbehavior?

Once everyone was settled and had tea in front of them all eyes turned to Harry. He struggled to look mature but that was a hard thing to do with Moody and Dumbledore staring at you. Professor Lupin (or Remus/ Moony as he'd come to call him after Siris left) was trying to be encouraging, he knew. Dumbledore started what he would soon come to think of as an interrogation by asking politely "Were you hurt? I trust Poppy fixed you up."

He answered, the way he always did to that question "I'm fine."

This didn't seem to satisfy anyone though so Remus added "he had a broken leg last I checked. A good one too. Are, you ok?" Remus's eyes were concerned, but Mad-Eye was another story. He stood up sharply knocking the table slightly at pronounced "Ha! I knew it! Which Deatheater? Just give me a name boy."

Unfortunately this seemed to rekindle the previous argument the two men were having as Remus stood and shouted "what do you mean you knew it! You just spent the last half hour telling me that's EXACTLY what didn't happen!

Not wanting to have to be responsible for somebody's visit to St Mungos Harry quickly decided that he had better end the argument. So he to stood up (minding the coffee table) and cutting off Moody's reply stated "Shut up! There were no Deatheaters! Merlin!" sighing heavily he fell back into his seat, not caring that he had immediately ruined his plan to look mature. "None at all." Glancing up he saw that everyone was once again seated so he continued knowing that if he didn't they'd pry it out of him anyway. "I had a fight with Dudley. Sum up? He got chucked out the bay window."

Sitting back down he watched everyone's reactions; most were expected. Dumbledore's brows met each other as he formed the dreaded disappointment face and Remus looked a bit shocked but, Moody was a little…off. He exclaimed loudly "Atta boy! Constant Vigilance! Disposed of the threat as fast as possible!" I stared at him for a second, still astonished by his utter fruitiness. _Yaaaaa_, I thought to myself, _a little of his rocker_.

Mad-Eye would have gone on but Dumbledore cut him off rudely asking "Accidental magic? Poppy deemed you healthy already then? I nodded my head slightly indicating yes and maybe and little duh; hiding my guilt. Just a little lie after all. Mme Pomphrey never actually let me leave, but im sure they'll hear about that later anyway. He went on now in full control of the conversation asking for more details of the story. I reluctantly answered "Dudley was egging me on, so I punched him, then he attacked me, and before he could even scratch me he was on the front lawn.'

I let them fill in the blanks, a little agitated and embarrassed by having to spell it out for them. Dumbledore seemed to understand as well as Remus but, of course, Moody didn't. He asked instead pausing at every second word "but why, did he, attack YOU? I mean-aren't they, scared we'll, turn them into frogs?" the man seemed genuinely confused. It was actually kind of funny, in a way. I have no idea why but I offered my example "or turn their lawn purple?" That comment seemed to bring Moody back to earth as he looked at me incredulously and asked "If the incident earlier was just a family fight why didn't you say so from the start; would have made my job easier!"

This was the most embarrassing part in my opinion. I'm sure I was blushing when I replied "Tonks silenced me. I couldn't talk."

At this Remus and Moody started laughing making the whole mess even worse. Ouch. Moody then calmed down enough to ask "I'm gunna have to talk to her about that. You just don't curse the victim. But if you were cursed, how did you tell Tonks to counter it? We all heard you two chatting."

I replied defensively "It was hard, but I think I was breaking it anyway. Hahaha, if I didn't speak up soon, I seriously thought she would leave me cursed forever."

Dumbledore, who had been strangely silent, asked sharply "Harry, you couldn't have. That's, just not possible. Nymphadora used the silencio charm correct? It freezes your vocal cords completely. You'd have to be either very, very loud, or resistant to magic. For example, I once knew a griffin that could repel magic from itself. Given it wasn't all that reliable; in the end the creature hit a tree in mid flight because he was so busy with his shield. Or the dragon; a very resistant beast. There was this one time"-

I really couldn't wait for him to stop rambling. I could use an update on wizarding events you know! So I bravely cut him off (mid sentence too!) requested "Sir! Can I ask something?"

Moody answered for him stating "Just did didn't ya boy? Not to bright a question either."

"Mad-Eye! He was being polite. Just give it a rest." Remus supplied.

I was really getting a vibe from those two. Nothing to do with divination for the record! Just, they were always at each others throats. Were they always like that? They seemed civil enough at the train station at the end of the year. Perhaps something had happened. I felt like I was going to burst from all the frustration I was keeping in. A broken leg, unwanted help and constant fighting all in one day was really starting to get to me. Despite the fact that it was still early, maybe lunch by then, it really felt like late night or something.

Thankfully Dumbledore decided to join the conversation again right then. He broke up the quarrel effectively by asking loudly "What is it Harry?"

Finally. Anyway I asked as politely as possible "What's Voldemort been doing? I mean, I haven't heard of anything, I haven't been watching muggle news this year lately. Is fudge still in office?

I swear I heard Remus mutter something like "should have known" but I could be wrong. I immediately forgot about that however, when Dumbledore answered "It's not looking good Harry. Since Fudge's public announcement of Voldemort's return, or perhaps simply after the Ministy battle, there have been many cases wherein Deatheaters unknown attack a home, apparently at random. You can guess the outcome of that."

He paused for a moment, perhaps deciding how much to tell me, what to hide or make up, but it gave a second to visualize my new information. A green skull hovering over houses and you know the occupants are dead. In most cases their valuables were probably taken too. Damn. It wasn't hard to imagine at all. Since the Department of Mysteries, of course he would become more active. Especially after everyone knew he was back. No point in hiding!

Dumbledore continued "Not just ransacking homes Harry. He's destroyed a few muggle daycares, and a casino or two. We don't know how he's succeeding with his army. Only that he has succeeded in winning over the giants, for now. And it's only days before the Dementors desert Azkaban and he regains all his Deatheaters. We are pushing Fudge to relocate the prisoners, with little success. He is searching openly for you and is closer than I would like in succeeding, we do not wish to have to test the wards on the house."

Remus added in an attempt to be comforting "It could be worse Harry; at least now we how the public's co-operation. You even got fan mail!" And if he thought that would cheer me up, he really didn't know me very well. Ron would turn green with envy when he found out, and people would want my photo ALL the time.

Dumbledore went on "I believe we should move you somewhere else for the summer. Hidden and protected. You understand?" Dumbledore was waiting for me to answer. He was referring to the prophecy. I was more important than thousands of innocent lives and from the sounds of things; my relatives' home wasn't secure enough. But it didn't sound like I was staying here, for that I was grateful. That would have made for one depressing summer.

Shaking my head to clear it I replied sullenly with a simple "ya" and asked my question again "Is Fudge still in office though?" I just couldn't see the wizarding community of Britain allowing it, after keeping such information from them. Wow, I'd be pissed off.

Unfortunately he was. As it turns out, the government doesn't work that way. The only way to chuck Fudge would be if the Wizengamot, had a unanimous vote to overthrow him, he was assassinated, or if he stepped down himself; the second being the most likely in my opinion. As Remus explained, that was politics, and not fair play. There were few things left to deal out though. Like, where was I staying over summer then? And more importantly, what were they talking about before.

Dumbledore poured more tea for everyone with a wave of his wand; the kettle filled each cup like an invisible hand was holding it up. Next he cast a silencing charm on the only door; nobody would be eavesdropping. Magic not uncommon to wizards but I was riveted to it. Perhaps it was simply because I was tired or magically deprived all summer, but I found it more fascinating, as if I was seeing it for the first time. Is that weird? Magic, I decided was the number one wonder of the universe. The moment soon passed and I was left with a smile on my face and a cup full of tea.

Dumbledore was talking again, but he was kinda boring. Sipping the tea only made me more tired, so I resolutely put it down and sat up straight. This was the conversation I'd been dying to hear after all.

"Harry what do you think of that? It is for the best you know." Dumbledore said, immediately waking me up.

"What? Sorry, I wasn't listening sir." I admitted lamely. This turned out to be a good thing. Dumbledore impatiently summed it up; instead of my having to listen to him go on and on, as he did. I didn't use to find that annoying, but then, we never had long winded conversations before. He was avoiding something; he didn't have to talk about Griffins after all! Anyway, what he said was this "I need to keep you close to Hogwarts, but not actually in Hogwarts. Voldemort could find out you were there and that would ruin everything! So what we decided was this, albeit, with much argument, that you shall stay with Alastor, in Hogsmeade. Nobody knows that's where he lives yet." Turning to Moody he asked "You're renting it, I believe?"

Mad-Eye answered as though Dumbledore has seriously insulted him, maybe spat on him for example. "Of course I'm renting! Can't have them enemies knowing where I live all the time can I? That'd be askin' for someone to apparate over one afternoon and blast me to Timbuktu!"

"Me; stay at Professor Moody's! Are you joking? That's, not right. Can't I stay with Moony or something?" Ooops, that didn't come out right. Turning to Moody I sat a little further in my seat and apologized profusely "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry sir. I didn't mean…. Erm…. It's just…. I know him better and…. What?" I had just noticed that Remus was grinning widely at me and on a side note: Moody was taking the apology rather well (he seemed to like it when students begged for forgiveness, even if he/she in question never actually was taught by him).

Dumbledore who was trying not to laugh said "Remus lives in an apartment in London; and for that matter, where do you suppose will be the first place Voldemort will look for you? Remus may visit, but you will stay with Alastor. He has already agreed to it. The place is big enough, but none must know you are there. You may leave tomorrow, after the place is arranged. You will go under cover as Remus's relative; it is well know that werewolves may not share a home, for safety reasons. It will make sense that you live with a friend of his. Please, make up a name for yourself and we'll talk about changing your appearance in a bit. Have any questions?"

I was shocked. He wanted me to what! Wouldn't my last name be Lupin? Anyway, so this is what they were talking about. A Deatheater would stay at my relatives though? Somehow I think I misinterpreted that bit. I could ask about that right? "Sir? What were you talking about before I came in? A Deatheater is to take my place? I hardly think my Aunt would like that."

Dumbledore provided readily "Don't worry about that Harry, we'll figure something out; perhaps an order member instead. Regardless, I am ready for some lunch. From the smell downstairs, I would say Molly is about done making it."

"Ron's here?" I asked sharply. I hoped he was as I wouldn't mind hanging out with him. Even in Grimmauld Place. But things never are easy for me, Ron wasn't there.

He waved away the tea set, undid the silence charm and we all exited the room, myself right behind Mad-Eye. Was it a good thing that I got into trouble; would I have a better time at Moody's? The whole idea just scared me; the guy had after all attempted to kill me. That, for anyone who cares, leaves an impression on you. I know it wasn't him but, really, it's hard to get over. As it was, I wasn't looking forward to spending any time with him.

We had just walked out the door when I noticed a chain hanging out of Moody's pocket. Looking up to see if anyone else had noticed I saw that Remus and Dumbledore were up ahead and making a split second decision I whipped my hand out, grabbed the chain in a swift upward movement pulled the article out and stuffed it into my pocket. I suppose I was curious and a little mad at Moody, I have never taken anything like that. Oh, except that watch I have that I broke in the lake during the tournament. I don't know why I still wore after that, anyway I had taken it out of a cheap department store when I was 9 because I really needed one. Honestly, I was always late for school. Praying that Moody hadn't seen me with his magical eyeball I continued down the hall without missing a beat.

I was positive that I had gotten away with it, I felt a little excited and alive and proud of myself even, until I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder that said gruffly, "Oh, we are in trouble."

**A/N**

**Can you guess who's behind Harry? I don't think you can; but do try. **


	6. End of the Longest Day of My Life

End of the Longest Day of My Life

_What the fuck_? Filch shouldn't be here! I whipped around and came face to face with Fred… or George. Not really sure. In any case I had to ask "What are you doing?"

Weasley twin anonymous was busy laughing to answer immediately and instead waved energetically at the company behind me and said "Don't worry, I won't kill our Harry. He'll be down in a minute."

Looking behind me about to beg Remus to help get rid of Fred/George I realized that that wasn't going to happen. Remus was grinning broadly and stated "Fine, just don't make him test subject for anything permanent." Seeing the scared expression on my face he added "I see nothing wrong with a good prank. I must say, we could use a bit of cheering up."

Dumbledore added with laughter in his voice "Don't take to long Harry. Lunch will go cold." And with that they turned and left me in the hallway with a Weasley twin looking for someone to test a joke out on. I started to follow them down the stairs but the twin yanked my arm and pulled in the opposite direction down the hallway to a completely normal looking door, which Fred/George held open, urging me inside. Eyeing it suspiciously for booby traps I went in, positive there would be a bucket of cold water waiting for me, or something of that fashion. Course, as I learned later, the twins never did anything expected.

The room was a disaster area. If you've over seen a city after a tornado, you'd think it was spotless compared to this mess. Everything was a big or little fuzzy blob of assorted colours. There were six desks (kidnapped from Hogwarts no doubt) that were pushed together and served as a working area. It was littered with potion ingredients and a few cauldrons were bubbling, a random product wrapper here and there and a very large portion of the room was taken up with things they were selling or planning to sell. Then a pile of clothing actually stood up and said hello!

Question directed at the twin behind me I asked "Ummmm Fred?"

"Nope, not me." the pile said, and would have scared me shitless if I didn't recognize the voice. The other Weasley twin! "Nice try though. What are you doing here? Last I heard you were stuck there for another week yet."

Fred, who was the one that led me into the room walked over next to George and added "Good question."

"Did you blow up your aunt again?"

"Although that was very funny"-

"Yes, the good old days eh?"

"You'll have to explain to us one day"-

"How you did it!"

"And how you nobbled Moody without our help!"

Oh shit! Fred saw that… ooops. I quickly made to leave the situation stating very quickly "I'mgunnabelateforlunch. See you later!" and headed for the exit.

"Whoa, slow down there pal. I won't tell" Fred supplied before I could open the door.

"So, you did then! Harry, I'm shocked at you." George scolded, his voice an octave higher than usual. "Always the rebel that one; what'd you steal?"

"Wait, you're not going to tell Mad-Eye? Cause, if you did, that'd probably be the last time you saw me in one piece."

"Never! What you did was art!" Fred replied indignantly. "Could brush up on your technique though..."

"Harrykinns, you pick pocketed THE Mad-Eye!" George stated, and they proceeded to bow deeply to me in mock admiration, or maybe sincere, can't really be sure with them. In any case, before they stood up again, I was well out of the room, probably half way down the stairs in fact, as that's when I heard a very loud set of identical twins yell loudly "Heeyyy!"

Lunch was not a fun affair, I ate across from Moody and next to Dumbledore and Remus and I'm telling ya, you don't ever want to eat across from Mad-Eye. He pokes everything, probably trying to decide if its poisoned and he kept checking everyone else's food so once in a while he'd poke your food too or loudly sniff it just to be sure. And if that didn't do it, there's still the creepy magical eye whizzing around at 360 degrees, quite enough to make anyone lose their appetite. Anyway, Mrs Weasley was there as was the rescue team that showed up at my house, and Tonks, Mme Pomphrey and Shacklebolt.

Everyone was talking around me but I wasn't listening, I was still caught up in the conversation we had upstairs. Dumbledore really threw this one at me didn't he? And now I had to spend the rest of the day avoiding Fred and George. I left before anyone else and headed upstairs, directly to the room that used to have Buckbeak in it. Sadly, the creature wasn't to be found and I ended up running into Remus. We walked around, touring the house (which isn't called a mansion for nothing) and talked a bit. Mostly about Sirius; Remus was feeling the loss too of course. Now it was just him and Wormtail. How depressing.

His next question caught me off guard. He was acting dodgy then looked me right in the eyes and asked "Why, did you call me Moony? You never used to; it was always Professsor." Apparently it had been on his mind the whole time, and was just waiting to ask it. I really had to think about that one, it just seemed more natural. I'm sure to a psychiatrist it made sense; he was the only adult I had left. I had even forgotten about I had called him that. Point blank, he wasn't my professor anymore, he was a relative of some sort; and I told him so. This seemed to cheer him up and our conversation turned to more trivial things. Like Remus asked "Where are your glasses?" I told him about my getting contacts and he responded "I'll tell Dumbledore, he'll want to know. So you've been walkin' around blind all week?" And "What did the twins do to you exactly? When you came down you weren't a ferret or covered in feathers." In return I asked him why he didn't like Mad-Eye and he explained that he didn't feel Mad-Eye was a good guardian and wouldn't treat me right; he had wanted me with him. I hadn't known it at the time, but that was a very parental way to feel. Nobody's protection was good enough but yours.

_Note to self: find my mirror, fix it and give the other to Remus. Yes, good plan._

Needless to say, Fred and George caught up with me in soon after that, and insisted on a private conversation. George (the twin who now had on a sweater with the letter "G" on it) spoke first saying "we would first like to thank you enormously for your donation to our troublemaking cause"-

"First giving money"-

"Then thievery."

"We're offering exclusively to help with your new career."

"Career?" I asked, lost at sea.

"A side job, if you will." George explained.

"I saw your hand in that pocket, and"-

"That's a start"-

"But you need real training. Can't have you getting caught now can we!" Fred finished.

"You're going to teach me how to steal from people!" I blurted out. Really, that's, well stealing. "People get sent to jail for that!" I added, as if they didn't already know that.

"Our dear Harry"- Fred went on.

"You must see how useful an art it is."

"Just pickin' pockets to start with, who said you had to steal wallets?"

"How about the wand of a Deatheater?"

"I'd like to"-

"See you manage that without stealing."

"Ermmmmmm" That had me stumped; maybe it really would be a good thing to know how to do? "But I stole from Moody already, doesn't that mean I know how?"

Fred and George looked stunned. George stared at me aghast while Fred shook his head in disgust. "No, no, no, no Harry. You got lucky, amazingly so considering it was Mad-Eye you nobbled. Imagine if he saw you!"

That image brought George back to earth who added "It's like pickin' locks. You can get it right the first time, but it takes practice."

"Exactly so. Good thing he was busy with lunch or"-

"He'd have felt the weight out of his pocket."

"You had an easy job of it."

"If it'll help win this war"- I started to say but was cut of by the twins who immediately began taking turns shaking my hand.

"Good, Good chappy. Lessons begin at once!" And with that they took a large step back and were smiling like idiots. I was utterly bewildered until they each emptied their pockets on the desk, revealing the contents of my pockets! _Hey, not nice_! I couldn't make them out now without my glasses but I knew what was in my pockets. Thank Merlin it was nothing embarrassing. A muggle pencil, piece of parchment (which had Dung's name on it and the time of day he guarded me regularly. He was easy to spot after a while) and a few muggle candies "Harry, you've got a time turner!" George exclaimed. "You"-

Fred actually cut him off (that happens a lot around here) instead of finishing his sentence and inquired "It's Mad-Eye's? Way to go you ignoramus! He's bound to miss it! One look upstairs and we're doooooomed!"

"Ahhhh" George groaned, clearly on the verge of a headache, or excellent dramatics. George advised "Make sure we can meet somewhere this weekend!" Anyway, they chucked my stuff at me, and fled the room without another word.

Next I ran into Mundungous Fletcher who immediately began chasing me around the mansion screaming "Run faster Potter! Are you happy now!" I replied "yes" and the chase was on. The guy was mad at me! So we ran around the house screaming at each other, which everyone else found amusing. I was very glad that Snape wasn't there, else wise he would have tripped me and I'm not sure what Dung would have done if he caught me. Well Dumbledore eventually stopped him and I discovered that yes, Dung was in better shape now! _Note to self: don't do something like that to Dung ever again! _I felt very happy about it though. Fred and George thought it was frickin' hilarious, but had to leave halfway through. Snape had hinted that Dung was upset before. What was it?"You should remember Fletcher is on our side too?" Or something like that. Perhaps Dung would seek revenge in some other way now? He hadn't done any damage after all. At least I got my excise in and to take Mundungus for1 last run before I left.

To bad for me, that wasn't all my day was to hold. I had put off thinking about tomorrow and had an urge to kick something when Dumbledore caught up with me after supper. "Have you decided on a name for yourself Harry?" he asked as if he was asking me if I wanted tea. The guy is nuts.

So I replied rudely "I'm kinda attached to the one I've got thanks." Normally, I would never insult an adult like that, but I felt he deserved it.

Dumbledore didn't feel fazed in the least and plowed on commenting "I found a last name for you, Remus actually has a half sister witch married and without child, but nobody knows that last bit. Their last names Everson, so anything you can find that'll go with that will do fine. Ask Remus about her later."

"Sir, are you sure this is necessary? I'd be just as safe at Hogwarts, if not more." In short, I really didn't want to go.

"My dear boy, surely Alastor isn't so frightening?" Dumbledore teased. He was trying to make me want to go, if only to prove I wasn't afraid. Reverse psychology. _K, maybe if I was 2 years old._

"I'd just rather be at Remus's is all and erm, I don't know Moody sir." This was, now that I think about it, exactly what Dumbledore was hoping I'd say.

"Good." He said sharply clapping his hands together. "This'll be the perfect opportunity for you two to get to know each other. Harry, this really is for your own safety, if you were hurt, the world would suffer our neglect. Like the Dursley's punching you."

_Say, how'd he know? Oh, right. Mme. Pomphrey must have told him. Shit._

"Harry, why didn't you tell us?" Dumbledore asked softly, in that disappointed tone of voice. That didn't make me feel bad as I'm sure he intended; it just pissed me off that he didn't already know.

"Because I don't want your help! How can I be expected to stand against Voldie if I can't take a hit from my uncle? I was fine I just"-

I had no words to describe that really. It was stupid teenage rebellion that kept me silent I suppose. Can't tell him that though! So I finished "-wanted to do it alone." Dumbledore wasn't happy with this excuse of course but didn't lecture me. Instead he said "ok, well let's bring in Remus shall we?" What was he doing?

Remus and Mme. Pomphrey were just outside the door and walked in after he said this. Oh you know they planned that one! By now it had gotten darkout and we had to illuminate the room, easily done with magic. He had Remus sit down on a seat he conjured up and while Mme. Pomphrey examined his face at every angle (especially his cheek bones) Dumbledore explained that as a relative of Remus' I couldn't have just any appearance; it had to be one a little similar to his.

Now if you ask me, this was going overboard, I was supposed to be the son of a half sister who, chances are, looked nothing like him! Regardless, the super paranoid people soon sat me down and began comparing the both of us. The goal was to make small changes, nothing to drastic but enough that people wouldn't guess my identity. At one point the nurse told me off for squinting and we explained it was due to my lack of glasses. She simply clucked her tongue and kept up the examination. It was the most uncomfortable thing of my life. Truly. At least she wasn't personal about it, but then you didn't know what she thought of our looks.

Finally done she got out a potion and her wand. She ordered me onto a bed (recently conjured by Dumbledore) and told me to drink up. It put me to sleep for about an hour, long enough for her to do her magic. The spell was more like on that fixed a broken leg, it set the bone. Well in this case it reshaped it so that it brought up my cheek bones, giving me a sharper look, somewhat like Remus.

When I awoke Mme. Pomphrey was there and brought me to the sink where she dyed my hair. Not using magic, but using muggle hair dye. She coloured it a dirty blond (not pukey peroxide like a certain prat we know) and asked how long it would take for my contacts to come in. I told her I didn't know; she'd have to look it up and I was excused.

Still having not thought up a name and considerably crabbier than before (and that was saying something) I headed to the kitchen where Mme. Pomphrey said Remus was to see his reaction. I had looked in the mirror on the way down and thought the change was quite good. I was just as good looking as before and yet, not Harry Potter; therefore no one would be pointing at me all summer.

I found Remus as she said in the kitchen waiting for me to come down. When  
I entered he looked at me for a second and began applauding. For the rest of the evening he taught me how to play cards which I learned I was quite bad at, opened fan mail and trading light conversation. Fan mail was pretty much the same as last year; only the Order had thrown away any negative ones in their search for jinxes and read them all.

I never did those types of things before with Moony, it was nice. A lot of the time I'm sure we both pretended like we weren't missing Siris but I we did, for the usual reasons. Was Siris good at cards? I would never know.

Remus said that we were going to get me a haircut in Hogsmeade tomorrow, a concealing charm to cover my scar and wait for my contacts to come in, which Dumbledore was having changed to a blue grey; but for tomorrow they would have to charm my eyes a different colour and 20/20 vision. The eye charm wasn't permanent because after a while it would seriously harm your eyes. As well as the plan was working out, it didn't make me very happy. I'd long ago forgotten about Dudley; I just didn't want to have quality time with Mad-Eye Moody. I wasn't leaving friends behind as Ron and Hermione had been told not to write to me period and I had no one at Privet Dr. When we were done Moony led me up to a room (not Sirius's) and had my things brought up. I slept that night without a single nightmare, I think. I don't remember what I dreamed, if at all. Yay me!

I was woken next morning at 5:00 by Remus who knocked on my door until I told him (as politely as possible) to go fall off a cliff. A word of advice, never insult a marauder, especially anytime before breakfast. Out of nowhere a bucket appeared over my head and began to tip over. Not wanting to find out the temperature I quickly flipped off the bed and log rolled across the room. I suppose my reflexes were fast because Moony opened the door a second later to gloat and found me perfectly dry on the floor. If it was Siris he probably would have conjured a hose and sprayed me with it until he was satisfied just to spite me but Remus laughed his head off and made his way down stairs still laughing.

Well I was awake now. Positive that I'd laugh about it later, I dug into my trunk, found some "clothes" and slipped them on. The squad had brought everything incase I was staying a long time and a good thing they did, 'cept for Hedwig who was sent to Hogwarts earlier, claiming not only would I not be allowed to use her, anyway but that she'd be out of the way. Pushing my PJ's to the bottom of the trunk I gasped when I cut my finger on something. _Not again! _I thought, my good mood plummeting fast. It was the mirror Siris had given me. _Oh right! I was gunna fix it. Wonder where Sirius's is. Kinda need that._ Carefully taking out all the pieces and wrapping the in a shirt I made my way downstairs. Somebody else could charm my stuff back down the stairs, I wasn't bloody well gunna carry it all! Even if I didn't own a lot of things.

I was expecting to see any number of people from the Order around, despite the fact that it was so early. But only Remus was there. I found him in the kitchen making toast and setting out butter and jams. He heard me come in and abruptly stopped what he was doing and ran from the room. I called him back asking for help with some magic and when he saw the mirror he was confused. I explained it and he easily fit the pieces back together, good as new and promised to look for the other one.

Job done he charged out of the room, giving me time to put the mirror away safely in my trunk, next to the time turner, and came back quickly carrying something in brown paper that looked suspiciously like a broomstick.


	7. Wot!

Wot!

Smiling broadly he tossed it lightly to me and catching it easily I unwrapped it. It wasn't my Firebolt, but it was still pretty good! A Nimbus 2001!Not bothering to wonder how Remus had gotten me one I smiled again and I looked eagerly at Remus who had a second one in his own hands and began cheering. I was ecstatic! I hadn't ridden a broom in sooo long! Consequently, we ended up wolfing down breakfast (no pun intended) and shrunk my stuff, put it in a bag with a zipper on it fixed my eyes (about bloody time! I had hit my head on the door again earlier that morning) and hurried into the yard. He also concealed my scar, but the charm could be broken and Mad-eye would probably see through it. He clipped a compass onto his broom (a Nimbus 2000) which I assumed Sirius had bought for either himself or Moony and with a last glance at each other (Remus looking slightly ill) kicked off. Next stop, Hogsmeade!

Now, it's a good thing that we weren't being escorted as I'm sure that I would have made at least a few of them sick. Remus made a beeline for Hogsmeade while I did loop-de-loops spirals and a good assortment of stunts all the way there. Imagine about 4 order members trying to keep track of me! Now, watching Quidditch is one thing, but watching someone flip upside down and under too many times, not a pleasant experience. But I had a good time! Of course, we had left early in the morning so it was dark out and I couldn't go to far from Remus. After a while I got a little less enthusiastic, mostly sticking to Remus.

Eventually we reached our destination and landed at the Shrieking Shack. Remus grumpily led me down the streets of Hogsmeade (lack of sleep will do that to you I figured) until he found what he was looking for. I assumed it was Mad-Eye's house, but it was so, normal. Well, for wizards anyway. Now, I didn't have much experience in these things but it looked to be in the same style as all the ones next to it; more normal if anything. It lacked decoration of any kind, save an old set of pots and pans attached to the door. If we tried to open the door without being asked in, Moody would know about it. Remus then approached the door (quite a brave thing to do in my opinion) and knocked a sing song tune on it. We didn't hear anything for a moment, then we heard a clunk, clunk on the floor inside and the door was edged open slightly. Mad-Eye's head popped out and checked to see who was there; his magical eye whizzing around checking for unseen people behind us. He proceeded to open the door all the way, grabbed the front of my rather enormous shirt (having to quickly twist his hand through the material multiple times it was so big) and with one tug pulled me inside. Remus was given the luxury of walking in himself and closing the door behind him.

The second he had us in he held us at wand point and began asking us questions to confirm our identity. Once satisfied (by then I'd wracked my brain trying to remember everything I'd done yesterday morning) he led us to the kitchen where he began setting up some food for a lunch. We each made our own sandwiches (poorly made as he seemed to lack the normal definition for lunch meat) and sat down at a very sturdy table to eat them which, by the way, was very uncomfortable. There was no talking, Remus and Mad-Eye it seemed were trying to ignore each other and I wasn't about to try anything to fix that problem. It was almost 9:00 now so I hadn't eaten for hours, not to mention that the ride here had made me hungry. It seemed the reverse for Remus, that or turkey, mustard and mayonnaise shouldn't be mixed together; he was hardly eating at all.

Lunch done, Moody got down to business. Looking at me he cleared his throat and said simply "You know why you're here. I didn't invite ye, so you stay outta my way, and I'll do the same for you."

Remus didn't take this very well and the argument began. "S'cuse me? Harry isn't exactly jumping for joy to be here either!"

"Stupid mutt! Don't call him that! I'm sure your nephew thing has a different name!" Moody yelled back, his usual paranoid self. But he really did need an alias. Maybe like Morgan or- His thoughts cut off abruptly by Remus who growled nastily, enough to rival any dog.

"You think I want him here with you?" he spat out the last word as if it was poison. "He should be with me! But we'll think up a name before I leave, don't want Mad-Eye going crazy you know." Oh man, maybe I should hide behind the counter or something? Eager to see what Moody looked like, I drew my eyes from the safety of the counter.

He was pissed; you just didn't insult that guy. He made his way to the front door in the other room, swung it open, pans rattling and said loudly pointing his finger to the street "Out!"

Remus didn't seem to know what to say to this and instead muttered "I'm here to help him get used to you, this way he won't blow out all your windows."

"Hey!" I said talking for the first time.

This eased the tension a bit and Mad-Eye closed the door with a snap and asked "He could do that?"

Remus nodded, a smile on his face and said "by accident." Turning to me he added "I heard you once broke all the Dursley's windows because your aunt said that your mom was a horrible freak."

"And the ones on the side of the neighbors house too." I admitted remembering the incident. Needles to say, my relatives hadn't been too happy.

Remus grabbed my head and started rubbing his knuckles into my scalp saying fondly "Well done. Couldn't have done better if you tried."

"I was only 8" I stated defensively, getting free of Remus's hold and evil attempt to make my hair even messier. Maybe this was the wrong thing to say because any anger left on Moody's face immediately vanished to be replaced with a very creepy smile.

"Well, so long as you don't break all my windows we should be fine. Break one o these and alarms go off loud enough to be heard at Hogwarts." Grinning evilly he asked casually if I would like a short tour of my new home, at least for the rest of the summer. After agreeing he took us around and I found that the house was pretty much all the same. No different colours or nothing. Along the short trip he explained that I had a hair appointment in about 2 hours and that if I moved anything in his house without permission he would have to turn me into some kind of animal and bounce me off the walls. What shocked me was when Remus said "Hmmmm agreed" and shook Moody's hand. We ended up stopping in the living room for a bit before we went out, to make the rules clear.

There were always rules, and his were easy to follow; or at least that's what Moody claimed. I seriously doubted that he'd ever had another young guest to test that statement out on though. When going out for any reason I had to make sure that my disguise was perfect, I had, had, absolutely positively had to tell mad-Eye before even thinking about leaving in the first place and if and when I got on his nerves I had to agree to get out of his way. No problem. So far it was better than the Dursley's.

When we ran out of conversation he asked where I wanted my room. He had two spares for guests (I seriously had to consider if he ever had visitors period) he said were for emergencies. We agreed on the larger on as, well, it was bigger. Nodding he made his way to said room and conjured a curtain across the window. "Afterall" Moody said "can't have people poking their noses in when you're busy" Assuming he meant my disguise we put my trunk and things in the room, and went back to the living room. A good spot for conversation that room.

At 10 to 12:00 we headed out to the hair dresser. Now, this was Hogsmeade, a magical community so a trip to the hairdressers wasn't quite the same. They used a wand for trimming and magical devices for fancy does and shaving. This, I had to admit was more fun than the muggle way. The witch that did my hair was a bit scared when we walked in with Mad-Eye. She had heard that he moved in but we confirmed it. She seemed determined not to make a mistake or displease us in anyway for fear of her life but in the end I got her to cut it shorter than I'd ever had it. The lower back was little more than spikes sticking up but I had more hair the closer to the top. For the first time ever I got ride of the bangs (as I didn't have to hide a scar) and instead had it spiked which, apparently wasn't a common wizard fashion because when I tried to explain what I wanted she thought I was crazy. But she did have wizarding hair gel for sale, which I bought. It came in different smells, and some changed colours after a few minutes and some tasted like fruit if you'll believe that; I ended up getting plain clear non scented thank you very much. Moody agreed that I was crazy as did Remus but hey, do I really want a hair cut THEY like? No.

Despite the fact that it was called a village, it was more like a small town really and although Harry had been there on school trips he never went down the residential streets so that's where they went next. The place wasn't put together logically and he found that you could quite possibly get lost in the small place. So Remus took me for a tour, telling Moody we'd see him back at his place for supper. Hehehe; unless he wanted to eat out. Mad-Eye would never eat out of course, and we went on down the road. As it turned out, we seriously needed to pick a name and did so whispering to each other for about an hour. Neither of us suggested Sirius. In the end we settled for Darian. It was a different name, one that nobody we knew at Hogwarts had and fit well with Everson. So, Darian Everson. We wanted to make my middle name Wot because then you had Wot Ever and I'm sorry to say that that was just fricking funny at the time. But no, we needed something that didn't sound like my mom had been insane when she gave birth and instead ended up with Darian Michael Everson. It didn't sound like me, but that was the whole idea any way. Besides, Remus said that his grandfather's name was Mikey so it connected that way too.

Name decided we headed into the Three Broomsticks to get a light-snackish-lunch-that-we-really-should-have-eaten-at-12:00-not-4:00 and a drink. I asked him if someone was replacing me at the Dursleys already and answered that yes someone was but refused to tell me who. Just that he'd been there since late last night (hopefully he not a she) we agreed entirely to feel sorry for whomever had to live with them, especially if they were under the illusion that I was spoiled. He told me stories from the days of the marauders, and sure it was hard to hear about all the fun times Moony got to have with Sirius and my parents, but I learned a lot about them through his memories. Remus bought me a paper to read later when I got tired of Mad-Eye and we headed back. About time too! The afternoon had flown by and we were now starving for some food; all we could do was pray that moody had some edible food left.

Upon entering the house Remus removed the charm that allowed me to see and returned my eyes to their natural green colour. We found Moody in the kitchen making spaghetti and ate happily and Remus and Moody mostly got along until it seemed they were getting tired of each others company. I decided that maybe it was time for Remus to leave about the same time Moody sent a stinging hex his way, which got Remus in the side. A very grumpy Remus Lupin headed to the fire and disappeared, probably home.

The second the fire returned to normal he signaled me over to him. Once we were seated he pulled my wand out of his pocket and said "I wanted to give this back to you but Remus was here. Reckon it might come in handy!" "

"Thanks, I believe it might." I replied to express my appreciation. But one thing crossed my mind. "Mad-Eye, students aren't allowed to do magic over the summer."

This seemed to make Mad-Eye very happy. Just one more reason for his nick name I guess. He said as close to happy as a guy named Moody can get "I say it's a good thing you aren't enrolled yet then eh!" I must have looked very surprised at this statement because he went on to say "Look, the poor soul in your place can't use magic over the summer, but you can."

Now I was getting it. It's how I was blamed for Dobby's magic in second year, because it was done in my house where nobody else magical lived. They were monitoring each house a student lived in, not the wizard himself. I could have used magic last year too; maybe not when I was at the Weasley's though. The ministry probably knew I was there. But not any more! Two Questions. "Why couldn't I use magic last year? And why didn't you want Remus to know?"

Moody snickered at the last one. "Tell 'im yourself." was all he said and in response to the first "Hmmm. Not sure. Either they forgot to mention it or it was because of all those friends you had over." Cor! They didn't want it common knowledge that if they didn't know where you were you could do magic. Alrighty. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.

"Yes!" I yelled in a slight adrenaline high. I proceeded to do a cartwheel in Mad-Eye's living room and luckily Mad-Eye didn't seem to mind. Maybe it was just the knowledge that if I did knock something over, then I could fix it myself. I stopped abruptly and stared at my wand in concentration. If he was right then, well, then let's try some magic. With a choppy wand movement I created a small firework show and bowed when Mad-Eye applauded. "Don't worry. No owl is coming to send you to Azkaban." He looked impassive for a long moment (through which I waited to see if he was right) and asked to see my patronus, just to make sure it was still up to scratch. That and that he'd never actually seen it.

I cast the spell lazily and watched as it paraded around the room. It really was magnificent to watch if you weren't in a life or death situation and had glasses on; as it was I only saw a fuzzy white blur but I knew what it was. As it disappeared my attention was drawn to Mad-Eye who was staring at me for some unknown reason. "Everson" he said using my new name so I could get used to it "you want to be an auror?"

Where'd this come from? Well, the man was expecting an answer. But to tell the truth, I wasn't so sure anymore. At least, not if the ministry remained as useless, frustrating and annoying as it was now; and I told him so. "Well, if it's what you wanted, I reckon there'd be a spot held for a boy with skill like yours. Your problem is that you're not used to following the rules." He said shaking his head. "The job of an auror is to get around them AND do their job. But we all know that if the ministry is impressed with ye, you can break a law, and it may be over looked ye see?" And with that amazing bit of insight he got up with some difficulty (due to the peg leg) and marched of to his room. I sat there a while thinking it over. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do anymore. I wasn't rich enough that I could go without a job. Was the Potter money even available to me this summer?

The next morning I got up at my usual time, around 7:00 just glad that Moody hadn't woken me at 5:00 or I swear he would have had a bucket over his head. I had looked through my trunk until I found my list of spells and such that I had made up at the beginning of the summer; spells that I either wasn't good at or hadn't learned in class. They were a lot easier to do now than I remember, course I was a lot farther along in my magical education. I spent the morning doing this, and Mad-Eye woke around noon, and was surprised to see me up. He taught me the charm for my eyes do I could do it myself in case of an emergency he said (more to the point; until my contacts came in) and the concealer for my scar. That done he left me alone for the rest of the day, which suited me fine. It gave me a chance to see who was around Hogsmeade to hangout with. Course, I had never in my life gone looking to meet people. Dudley had discouraged that when I was younger and then I entered the wizarding world, where anyone would pay money to see my face up close.

Two days later (and still under use of the eye charm I might add) I still hadn't seen anyone near my age around the village. There must be someone I thought frustrated. I asked Mad-Eye if I could borrow his collection, for a bit of additional work; he said it was alright. Having nothing else to do all day left me with lots of time to plan my escape to meet Fred and George for my first lesson in thievery! They said something about the weekend, and it was already Wednesday, so I laid out my plan but in order for it to work, I had to look like Harry Potter again and this was a problem because, I didn't look like me anymore! How was my replacement doing it anyway? So, of course I researched anything that sounded promising in Moody's books. I needed something that would change my face temporarily. The rest should be a piece of cake! Hehehe

The day after, I hadn't found a way yet but my contacts finally came in (though not by owl post, Moody handed them off to me) and there was a note with them. I took it outside to read by the sunlight and read:

Dear Harry,

You didn't get the wrong parcel, they are yours. I took the liberty of changing the colour from clear to that blue grey that looks so much like Remus's eye colour. I have also enclosed some money for whatever needs you may have and hope you are enjoying your stay. I am sorry to say that your cousin Dudley has suffered a minor concussion, which I am told is a head injury. The Dursley's don't remember what happened, they believe that Dudley hit his head on a lamp post and got hurt that way. Don't worry; he's probably in perfect shape by the time you read this.

(Here I had to stop and laugh a bit as I had this absurd image of a sphere ball with Dudley's face on it)

Also, I hope you are enjoying your stay, for does allow for more freedoms than were previously available to you. Remus has asked to pass on that he will be visiting on your birthday, and would like to apologize for it will be a small party. Your OWL results are included and I would like to congratulate you on your grades and add that you should have received the captaincy of the Gryffindor Quidditch team but due to circumstances in this coming term, I don't feel that is an idea I can support. I will discuss this issue with you on Aug, 5.

Yours Truly,

Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

I didn't make captain! As disappointment welled inside me I could only hope that he had a very good reason to explain in August, I didn't even laugh at his abnormally long name. He never used it, except in my Hearing last year. With a shaky hand I pulled out my OWL results and read it through, praying that this was some better news.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Below are you classes and the grade you got in each, listing your official OWL score.

Astronomy- Acceptable

Care of Magical Creatures- Outstanding

Charms- Exceeds expectations

Defense Against the Dark Arts- Outstanding, with honours

Divination- Terrible

Herbology- Exceeds expectations

History- Dreadful

Potions- Dreadful

Transfiguration- Oustanding

You receive one OWL for each Exceeds expectations grade and 2 for each Oustanding and a bonus for doing the best in your year. Your total number of OWL's scored is 9.

Congratulations,

Griselda Marchbanks:

Wizarding Examiner

That wasn't so bad, except that he didn't make the potions class, which meant that he could never ever be an auror now. Better start lookin for a new career! In frustration crushed it in my hand and threw it in the garbage. Looks like Snape got his way in the end; I won't be in his class. Bitter thoughts raced through my mind and I charged outside to a fresh and sunny afternoon, clashing badly with my current temper serving only to make me madder.

As I walked past a shop the window immediately shattered and everything in the display window fell over. _Oooops_. I thought, surprised by my anger. I had to keep my magic under control or it could get expensive around here. Wishing I had a hat I abruptly turned back around, heading for Mad-Eye's to get my broom. I could seriously let off some steam and a good fly seemed the best way to do it.

Turning the corner I heard the shop keeper yelling "Hey, who did that! Merlin, I just finished setting up!" Not a happy camper.

10 minutes later I had retrieved myNimbus (while wishing I was allowed my Firebolt)from my room and was looking for a good spot to kick off from. Deciding that Mad-Eye's back yard was as good as anywhere I tiptoed through the house, not sure if I was allowed shoes on inside and into the back. (Remus had told me that in Hogsmeade you can fly as high as you want, there isn't a muggle community for a ways away so you're not going to be seen.)

I kicked off and immediately my problems left me. I felt as if they were million miles away. Mad-Eye's house got smaller and smaller below until it was the size of a needle, that's about when I decided that it actually was colder that high up and fell into a long free fall towards the ground, holding the broom between my knees. I let the wind take me and smiled as it ran through my hair, and after tumbling a good ways towards the ground I grew tired of falling and prepared myself for some physical strain. With one strong movement I thrust my shoulders forward, legs straight bent my waist and grabbed the broom, now straddling it again and pulled my broom level again. This wasn't a stunt, it was just some fun. A few minutes of this would leave you breathless and exhilarated whereas tricks were more like showing off and gave you a feeling to having been on a roller coaster, but fun all the same; the same ways that a roller coaster was fun.

Damn it! His team was losing 30 to 10 and it didn't look like they were about to make a comeback anytime soon. That and their seeker was really bad at his job. It was like he kept forgetting that he was after the snitch, and instead was after a certain female chaser. At least the quaffle was on the other side of the field, well away from his net!

Glancing around for the teams' beaters he saw something higher up than even the seekers were, and it was falling, fast. Perhaps, it was someone's owl? No, he could see now it was too big. It was a person! He abandoned his position and tried to call his friends to help, this guy was going to hit the ground, but they were to far and didn't hear. Taking off on his comet 2 sixty he darted towards the figure, thinking that without his wand he could at least try to catch him. Then the figure leveled off with the ground and proceeded to do death defying burn outs, jacks and such. What? He was on a broom! That was, amazing! Forgetting the game all together he flew up to the other flyer to introduce himself. The teams were uneven after all; perhaps he'd be interested in playing?


	8. Forge and Gred

Forge and Gred

"Holy Shit!" one girl exclaimed. She was about a year older than me and incidentally very hot. "Where'd you learn to fly like that?" Several other of the teens agreed saying "ya!" or "really" A few players had to go home to eat soon and there was no point in continuing with half of them gone so here they were on the solid ground quizzing me instead. I had played beater and in my opinion done a pretty good job, though nowhere near Fred and George would have.

"I was home schooled" I lied. This was part of his alias, if anybody asked I hadn't gone to a school (where someone could look for my nonexistent record). "So, I guess I taught myself." I had assumed that as these were people that have been flying all their lives they'd be great flyers, but today I only proved that experience doesn't mean talent. Look at Malfoy or Ron! Pureblood families and yet if they weren't careful they'd smack into a tree, in an empty field no less.

I discovered that most witches and wizards in Hogsmeade didn't in fact go to Hogwarts, they liked to go to far away schools, just for the experience. Casting hasty good byes, those late for their supper ran off soon and only me and 3 others were left. I didn't know most people here, but sure recognized Dean Thomas! He had been playing chaser for the opposing team the whole time. It was just plain stupid that I'd known Dean for five years and yet never knew he lived in Hogsmeade! You'd think it'd have come up sometime. _Hey, I'm Dean and I in live in the only wizarding settlement in Britain, fascinating, no?_ Or something like that. Hermione would have his head if she found out. Besides Dean, there was also the hot girl, whose name was Amy and a smaller boy, about 3 years younger than me named Justin. They decided to show the "new guy" around town, despite my previous tour and Justin wandered off on his own not long after as he just wasn't part of our age group,

I quickly learned that the hot girl who swore earlier was quite the gossip queen. I'd have to be careful around her. _For all I know she could be another miniaturized Rita Skeeter! _I figured.

It was good to see someone familiar, besides the insane Mad-Eye. I quickly made conversation with my old dorm mate, acting like a stranger but bringing up many topics I knew Dean would be interested in. This left Amy out of most of the conversation; something she obviously didn't like or tolerate. Very angry after an hour of their ignoring her she stated that she had to go home to eat, Dean and I doing the same.

Once I was back at Mad-Eye's I ate the meal he had made (sincerely wishing that Mrs. Weasley would give Moody something edible) and went straight to my room. I hadn't yet fixed it up but I just didn't have time right now for that. It was time however, to put operation Forge and Gred into action.

Earlier that morning I had found a spell that would do. It would change my face to look like Harry's again for abut 3 hours, including my black hair and eyes and I would simply leave my scar exposed. The rest was a bit trickier; I had to actually get to the twins shop and hope that they were there. I yelled to Mad-Eye that I was going back out to the Three Broomsticks, which I was, I just wasn't staying there. I packed my bag with the invisibility cloak and some galleons and was out the door, promising to be back in about 4 hours. Once there I went directly to the washroom and was pleased to see that it was empty. I took the time turner out from around my neck and gave it 3 twists just as Hermione had done in 3rd year and prayed that it was ok. Not wanting to look for a clock I cast a spell to check the time; 4:00pm. Yes, I'd gone back 3 hours that left me with plenty of time! Ok, step 2; the charm to change my appearance. It's a bit hard to explain, so let me sum up. It casts a sort of illusion over my face in whatever image I want, but if somebody like Moody saw me they would see right through it and see my Darian image, not good. It was a difficult one to learn it said but I picked it up easy enough.

Throwing on my invisibility cloak I made my way over to the fire place and grabbed some Floo powder. I checked that nobody was watching then proceeded to throw the powder in and said clearly "Diagon Alley", praying that nobody would notice that a bodiless voice was using the Floo. I suffered through the usual process and came out with a bruised elbow and covered in soot, which would make me visible. I shook it off as best I could (until I couldn't see any soot or material for that matter). Apparently there was a drop off point in Diagon Alley for travelers as the fireplace I fell out of was in a secluded corner, not a shop.

Glancing around I found that I was near the Quidditch Supplies Shop, which was around the middle of Diagon Alley. This didn't help me much as I didn't actually know where Fred and George's store was. Just that it was a wizarding joke shop called "Weasley Wizard Wheezes. _Better start lookin. Can't exactly ask for directions, I wouldn't answer an invisible person. _

After searching for about ten minutes I found the shop, it was rather hard to miss. The inside was painted assorted fluorescent colours and every once in a while a firecracker would "accidentally" go off just outside drawing the attention of wizards and witches strolling by. Making sure my invisibility cloak was secure I cautiously walked in. I wouldn't put it past them to drop confetti (or something a bit more creative) on anyone who walks through the door.

The shelves were stacked with products and each kind wrapped in a different colour, whether for decoration or organization, I will never know. _There must be everything they've ever made in here; scary._ Back to task, I found George behind the cash and Fred in the next isle putting things on the shelves.

An evil plot crossed my mind, I could freak them out. Walking silently up to the counter I ringed the bell for service. Of course George couldn't see me and just looked at it for a sec. I ringed it another three times, by the end of which George was looking frantically through his pocket for his wand. "Will you cut it out George!" followed by a half hearted "Merlin". I rang again and again until George got himself together and was aiming his wand it. By now Fred was a little pissed and had stopped what he was doing and had just witnessed a self ringing bell be blasted into oblivion by his twin. Having caused enough trouble I pulled Fred's sleeve and dragged him into the back (Fred kicking and screaming the whole way) telling him to shut up. Once we were out of sight from the street I took off my invisibility cloak, revealing their friend Harry Potter.

Fred immediately stopped screaming and instead began shaking my hand. He stepped aside and let George welcome me in the same fashion. Pleasantries over George asked dejectedly "what d'you do that for Harry?"

Fred added in agreement "You owe us a new bell."

George flipped the sign in the store now reading "closed" so we wouldn't be disturbed.

We carried on talking for a while before getting down to business. It was really hard to carry a conversation with those two, let me tell you. They keep finishing each others sentences and move on to new topics out of the blue. Like first we're talking about my share of the stores profits as the financial backer, and then Fred says "Have you eaten at the new restaurant around the corner?"

Then George goes on to say "It's actually quite good."

Then Fred again "if you like flying pig that is."

Eventually I could be found sitting in a chair, watching a few demonstrations of "proper pick pocketing technique" as they called it. It was amazing! George stood at an imaginary street corner waiting impatiently for the light to change, hands clasped behind his back. Fred came up right beside him and looking at the "street" himself slowly slipped his hand into George's robe pocket. The second he had the item in his hand he whipped it lightning fast out of George's pocket and stuffed it into his own. All this had taken place within the time it would take for a muggle traffic light to change; although, how they knew about muggle traffic lights was beyond me and I wasn't about to ask.

I couldn't see myself pilfering from innocent people's pockets but as the twins say "Deatheaters aren't innocent." _Like they were going to stand still for me anyway?_ Well, some wouldn't notice if I stood next to them (Crabbe and Goyle). With this thought I took a try at it, not even managing to find the damn thing in George's pocket, never mind doing it discreetly. After a few more tries, I was getting very frustrated. It couldn't be that hard! Rethinking strategy George conjured a dummy for me to nobble instead. There were bells set up on it. The goal was to get the item (in this case a hanky) out of the pocket without ringing any bells. Again Fred demonstrated. He did it without hitting a single bell. Next I tried and just slipping my hand into the pocket set off no less than 4 bells. We played for the next hour practicing on each other and trying to get it just right. When George tried he would often set off a bell or two, he wasn't as good at it as Fred.

Tired of that way we moved on to another way; one that in a battle situation was definitely more useful. "The pocket walk" they nick named it and it stuck. Fred and George stood at opposite sides of the room and casually walked toward each other, as two strangers going down the street. George was the intended victim and Fred the snatcher. Fred bumped his shoulder into George's, knocking him slightly. Casting a quick "sorry" over his shoulder they continued walking to the opposite side of the room. Turning around Fred held up the hanky victoriously. But how did he do it? I didn't see what had happened at first and they had to show me again. If I thought the first one was hard, this was impossible! Bloody Hell, I mean really. He had to approach his person at a certain speed so that they collided right so he could slip his hand in and pull it back without the victim noticing and it was generally undoable.

"Your way better now Harry." George stated encouragingly roughly another hour later; 2 and a half hours into the three I had until I was caught up with time and had to be back in the Three Broomsticks bathroom.

"Definitely." Fred added. "Unfortunately I reckon it's time you be off. We wouldn't want the Dursley's to worry."

"Right you are Fred" George agreed a big smile on his face. Turning to Fred he said "We can't have him go home empty handed though now can we?"

"No indeed." Fred concurred. He led us purposefully into the shop and began taking a few things from the shelves. "This and this, oh and one of these." I could hear Fred say down the isle. He came back his arms loaded with WWW products, no doubt radioactive and put them neatly into a bag behind the counter business like.

"Guys I don't need all that!" Not to mention, who on earth would he use it on! Dudley was miles away, course, they didn't know that. Not to mention Mad-Eye would wonder how I got it; as the source is pretty obvious. I don't think Dumbledore, Remus or Mad-Eye would be too happy with me then. And my birthday was only a week away! Regardless of my protests they gave me the bag claiming to hex me if I didn't take it. When they said that one I couldn't help but think _Not if I hex you first._ They did not tell me what everything did and instead claimed cheerfully that I would have to test them out on my cousin.

About to leave George offered "If you ever need anything just ask. We'll be happy to help a fellow thief out." Great wording that.

"Almost anything; can't go makin a promise we can't keep!" Fred said evenly.

"Too right." George added. At that they saluted dutifully and recited "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

That reminded me "Got any rat poison?" I asked, not completely in jest. I was only thinking of the traitorous Peter Pettigrew, but Fred and Gorge took it as a major insult to their worship worthy heroes; namely my dad and his friends.

They gasped and George looked like he was itching to take back the bag of pranks. "How dare you say that about the great Wormtail! He's a prankster's hero as you full well know!"

"We gave you their map, trusted you with it and you smear Wormtail's name!" Fred added.

"What's wrong with you! What have you got against 'im? I suppose your going to offer a leash for Padfoot and pants for Moony next!" Geroge yelled, his voice rising all the while.

I had to stifle a laugh at that last; they didn't know Moony applied to a werewolf! They probably thought it was some master prank he had pulled in which he pulled down his pants and mooned people. Trying to force the image of Remus mooning the school from my mind I replied seriously thinking now of Sirius as they had just reminded me "You don't even know them. What if they're Deatheaters?" At their openly shocked stares I said sadly "I'm sorry for what I said ok? I appreciate that you gave the map more than you can know but it doesn't mean that I have to be so seriously devoted to some old jokers who don't even know you exist!" I couldn't believe that I had just called them old jokers nor that I had lied so well; too Slytherin.

"Fine Harry. Suit yourself. But we would pay money to even see them, dark marked or not!" George stated boldly.

"Just don't insult them in front of us." Fred requested his face dead serious. About then I decided it would only be polite to leave and could only pray Mad-Eye wouldn't find out where I went and when. I turned and left only to be stopped as I reached the door, thinking they were going to ask for their stuff back. But they didn't instead Fred said "Be back here Tuesday at 6:00 in the afternoon. And Merlin's balls don't ring the bloody bell again!"

**A/N **

**I**f your wondering, yes Fred and George worship the marauders like gods. Wonder what'll happen when they find out who they are? _Remus'll have groupies!_


	9. Suspicions Confirmed

Suspicions Confirmed

I lay awake that night thinking of my adventure. After leaving the shop I had successfully made it back to the Three Broomsticks bathroom via Floo network and with a few minutes to spare before I was back in the right time. 7:00. I sat in the pub drinking a butterbeer and played Quidditch with everyone for a few hours so it wouldn't be suspicious if I came back too soon. Mad-Eye hadn't suspected a thing and apparently didn't miss his time turner.

The lesson was immensely embarrassing but I had a good time until the end. Fred and George didn't know what they said and what it meant to me but right now the joke wasn't at all funny. My mind kept running over Sirius and my memories of him; or rather the lack of memories. He was in my life for what 2 years? I still hadn't gotten to know him, I had barely seen him. And their joke of him hurt me deep. Padfoot had been kept on a leash, while in Azkaban and the last year of his life. Why did I have to save Pettigrews life in the Shrieking Shack? Then at least Sirius would have had some kind of revenge. Damn it!

My thoughts were interrupted as heard a strange sound, like glass breaking. I jumped up and ran to the window and pulled the curtain out of the way. I stared transfixed in horror at the window. Little cracks were snaking across the frame threatening to break the whole damn thing. I couldn't help but wonder if this was happening in all the windows in the house. A light wind was picking up tossing papers around and candles were lighting themselves. Fuck! My magic was loose again. I had to calm down and get it under control. Taking a deep breath I tried to first stop the glass from breaking as it was the biggest problem. Who'd want to set off alarms loud enough to be heard in Hogwarts? Dumbledore would be down here before I could say "ooops". The wind died down and the glass seemed to stop breaking, though I'm not sure how that works. I wasted no time in picking up my wand from the night stand and fixing the window with a quick reparo. That seemed to do the trick and I finally took a look around my room. _Wow. _You don't want to know what it looked like.

While considering the look on Mad-Eye's face if he found out what I done I went through the house and fixed all the windows just thankful the whirlwind disaster was restricted to my room.

Looking at the clock I saw that it read 2:00am. My thoughts turned to how much had happened to me lately. It was, pretty fun. It was good to be someone else for the summer. Then I'd go back to school and see my friends, and my enemies and life would be back to normal. Or, at least as normal as it would ever be.

I was greeted the next morning by Mad-Eye's roar of "Potter! Out here now! We've gotta move it!" Apparently he was in such at fritz he forgot to my fake name. Not to professional that. _What the hell is his problem though?_ I wondered, not in the best mood myself. Wandering into the hallway clad only in boxers and a t-shirt I found Moody in his room packing all his things up. "wha-" I asked but Mad-Eye noticed I was there and explained hastily "Someone tried to break in. Damn stupid about it though. Tried to break my window see." My mind was no longer groggy from sleep and realization sank in. I hadn't entered Mad-Eye's room to see if he had a window, I hadn't fixed it! Bugger. He wasn't going to be happy.

"Mad-Eye. It-"

"No no no. Shut up you ignoramus! I'm the auror here. Move!" Mad-Eye said, cutting me off again. I couldn't let us leave Hogsmeade and make all the trouble that would surely follow for absolutely no reason. Not to mention how pissed Moody would be then!

"But Moody it wasn't D-"I attempted only to be interrupted _again._

"Constant Vigilance boy! And Merlin, get some clothes on you prat!" Moody yelled at me, not unlike my Uncle Vernon. He just wasn't purpling in the face and the saliva stayed in his mouth. _For now._ I thought pessimistically to myself. Taking a brave try I walked over to the trunk Mad-Eye was loading with clothes and with one yank pulled them all out and most of them landed on the floor. The idea was to get his attention, which I sorta did, for a second.

"Goood point. What am I doing!" He asked me, slapping his forehead with his hand. He flicked his wrist and his wand shot out giving me a start. He pointed it at the clothes and with a whoosh they jumped back into the bag. He did this to the whole dresser and was moving into the living room before I thought up another plan.

Taking a deep breath I yelled as loud as possible "It was meeeeee!"

Well, this got his attention sure enough. "What?" He asked, clearly bewildered. He had even stopped trying to fit his dark detectors into his trunk. "I broke your window." at his blank look I added a sincere "Sorry!" as an after thought. With a sound that was something like "merf" Mad-Eye emptied his trunk with a wave of his wand, all the things in it going back where they were before.

"What cha do that for eh?" He asked me, his magical eyeball whizzing around, probably looking for Death eaters hiding in the bushes still.

Feeling slightly nauseous now, as I was unable to stop looking at the disgusting thing for some freakish reason I protested "It was an accident! I didn't do it on purpose."

Mad-Eye seemed to be considering this and said simply "You. Me. Backyard. Now!"

"What?" I asked. Surely I must have heard him wrong! He wanted to beat me up?

"You're right." He said, now confusing me worse. "Get some clothes on _then_ meet me in the back." When I didn't move, only stared at him, he said, fingering his wand "Do you think you'd move faster as a ferret, boy?"

Half an hour later I dropped into bed, despite the fact that it was only 9 in the morning. Mad-Eye had put me through my paces. He insisted that we have a duel; more than one actually. I was whipped into a fence, accumulated numerous grass stains and one hell of a dizzy spell before he let me retire to my room. But I seriously believe that he only let me get away because I was seeing four of him. Course, the trip to my room was a danger crossing in itself if you think about, smacking into no less than 3 walls can't be good. No indeed. Mind you I dealt as much as I got. No cutting spells or permanent damage was the rule so I resorted to disarming and a few more creative tricks. At one point Mad-Eye was spinning on his head like a top, before he cast the counter curse and retaliated by tossing me cross the yard, and headlong into the fence, and not for the last time.

We continued to have duels for the rest of the week, and Mad-Eye gave me a good route for doing my jogging, something I'd been putting off since I left the Dursley's. I went to the twins again for lessons and nothing especially worth reporting happened until Friday; two days before my birthday. I went over to Fred and George's for lessons again.

As usual the closed sign was up, but the lights were off, it was pitch black. I opened the door cautiously to have my suspicions at last confirmed. Confetti fell on my head and a big sign appeared in front of my face flashing in bright fluorescent pink writing _"you've been had!" _With a snap the door closed behind me, nearly clipping my feet and I had to wonder, wasn't the door closing by itself a classic horror movie must have? You never want to encounter one of those in real life, I'm sure. A little uneasy now, _and for good reason if you ask anyone who has been pranked by the twins, _I called out "k guys, guys..."I received no answer and called again "You just had to get pay back for my ringing the bloody bell didn't you? Well, you got me. Hehehehe. Guys?"

My gut filling with dread I watched hopelessly as the sign in front of me disappeared. The second the sign was gone the normal lighting in the shop came back on all at once. In reflex I shielded my eyes with my hands and closed my eyes tight from the sudden pain (however slight) and trying to dispel the tye-died arrangement of colours dancing in front of my eyes. But the fun wasn't over yet. The most horrible version of Happy Birthday was played cheerily around me, the twins alternating with the verses.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

"Happy Birthday to you!"

"_Happy birthday dear Harry" _was chorused together,

And followed by "Happy birthday to you!"

By now my eyes had adjusted and I lowered my hands cautiously, not sure if they were quite through yet. Thankfully I looked upon a gleeful Forge and Gred, wide smiles firmly in place. They had cone party hats on their heads which I noticed had Harry Potter written all over them in different fonts. Scary. They enthusiastically strolled up to either of my side and taking one arm each strung theirs between mine and walked firmly forward, leading me into the back room. Not knowing what to expect I tried to convince them to "cease and desist" I believe was exact wording, but to no avail.

One twin strode up to the door and theatrically swung it open. What I looked upon inside was, intimidating. The room was left pitch dark except for one light which illuminated a circular table for three. Upon the table was a very impressive birthday cake, 3 layers and wizard style sparklers. I say wizard style because after the lights went out on them they were entirely edible, though a choice not recommended, especially in the twins company. I stood staring at it, one twins are still entwined with mine. I think I was in post state shock, or something. I'd only had one birthday party ever and this "took the cake" as they say.

Regardless, my lack of attention cost me dearly. I stood ignoring the twins, the free twin more specifically and was taken by surprise when another flash blinded my senses. Wide awake now I rubbed my eyes, quite tired of the abuse. Fred or George released my arm and walked over to his twin who was standing about 2 meters away, facing me and to my horror realized what he was holding. A camera! A perfectly normal one I might add, I'm not sure how that works, I mean they're pure bloods right! Nonetheless my fears were recognized as a card slid out the end and he said "good shot, if I do say so myself." The other twin looked at it for a moment and nodded his agreement.

"Your very photogenic Harry, though not as much as me. Haha!"

Cursing Polaroid to the pits of hell I raced forward to see for my self. It was a rather good picture. I stood next to a Weasley, still not sure which, with my eyes staring wide at some point past the camera with my mouth forming an "O" of surprise. The twin looked perfectly respectable, arm wrapped around mine and the other firmly in his pocket. He was at least looking at the camera.

Anyway I had to ask "Why do you have a muggle camera? It's not your Dad's is it," fearing the last. I remembered only too well how the last borrowed article of Mr. Weasley's had gotten me and Ron into trouble.

"No, no, no course not." Fred said waving his hands alarmed.

"How dare you accuse us of that Harry!"

"It's ummmmmm…" Fred continued, not at all convincing.

"Never mind! Poor lady won't miss it. If you must know it's cheaper to use to potion to make the pictures move. Not that we care. Here Fred take some more pictures." George said handing Fred the camera.

A good five minutes and many pictures later they formally introduced me to the birthday cake. I say formally because it was quite so, they conjured the "royal birthday cake cutter" (knife) and forced me to slice it into 3 enormous pieces. Like we were actually going to eat the whole thing!

I soon discovered that the twins had slipped a potion into the cake somehow, I'm certain they didn't make it themselves. In any case, I began to get kinda giddy and carefree and stopped wondering what was in it, just enjoying my self.

We engaged in a fierce battle of crazy eights, then poker, were feeling sick from eating to much cake and about 2 hours later we had calmed down slightly, enough for me to remember that I had to be back in about half an hour. I told them so and they fetched my presents hidden somewhere in the store. Fred forced his into my hands and urged me to open it. I ripped up the Quidditch wrapping paper to reveal a good dozen chocolate frogs, and one lone famous witch or wizard card. "Sorry," Fred said happily. "Got hungry."

Rolling my eyes I turned it over to see who I got. I gasped and cried out, my voice cracking "What!" I was looking at a picture of myself. How embarrassing! I was wearing my school robes and waving enthusiastically apparently very happy about something. "Guys this is NOT funny! This is the only one right?"

"Don't look at us! We didn't do it! Your picture is brand new on the cards too so it's kinda rare. Right George?" Fred said this all very quickly and with his smile firmly in place. You'd think his cheeks would hurt by now, but no.

"Indeed. I'll bet nobody else has even seen it." George added unconvincingly.

"I stand by what I said before, you are very photogenic pal." Fred said, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Where'd they get the picture though?"

"Well you see there once was this boy who was very famous" George began. Not amusing.

"And consequently had many fans." Fred went on. "Not to big a stretch to assume he had fans, who had a camera and would accept galleons to have it published."

"Can they do that? Isn't that illegal? Don't they need my permission?"

"Ummmmm, no." Fred stated bluntly. "Wizard law." He added shrugging.

"Next present!" George said out of the blue, tossing a light weight box at him, with identical Quidditch wrapping paper. Inside this one was a force to be reckoned with, more samples of the WWW. I still hadn't used the other stuff they gave me! Mostly due to the fact that I don't much want to be squashed by Moody. Never the less, a few skiving snack boxes could come in handy at Hogwarts this year. Hehehe. I thanked George enormously and headed back to Hogsmeade promising to be back on Monday. I had no idea how "eventful" my real birthday on Sunday would be.


	10. 16th Birthday

**PS.** Sorry if I confused anyone. No, I didn't review my own fic. My brother went on right after me and I forgot to log out. That's it.

16th Birthday

I awoke on Sunday morning, my birthday, to the sound of Mad-Eye and Moony's bickering. "What do you mean presents first? He'll open them all after supper Mad-Eye!"

"What's the point in that? Dragging it out all day, just get it over with!"

"That's not the way you do it you nutcase! And where do you get off dueling with H, Darian? You could seriously"- Remus was cut off by Moody's harsh laugh.

"Ha! It's the Death Eaters you should be worried about, that kids got spunk!"

"You can't work him all summer, its bad enough with the anti depressants Dumbledore insists you give him; he's probably addicted to it by now!" Remus said the last with a growl. Anti depressants? We were going to have a little talk.

"He's here for protection. What better way to enforce that than by allowing him to be his own body guard? He's under my care, not yours Lupin, talk to Pomphrey about it."

I knew that last reply by Mad-Eye would piss Remus off even more, so I ran into the room stopping the fight. Moony and Ma-Eye had their wands fixed on each other ready for another fight. Upon seeing me, they grudgingly put away their wands and Mad-Eye asked "Want some breakfast Darian?"

He's not serious? Just like that, it never happened? "Depends who's makin' it." I replied, easing the tension. Halfway through a dead silent meal of pancakes, courtesy of Remus, I asked "What anti depressants are we talking about here?" glancing from Moony to Mad-Eye.

It was Mad-Eye who answered saying "Do you ever wonder why you're not more upset about Black's death? I slip it in with your diner. It also ensures that you sleep well if you know what I mean, not even Voldemort can send a dream your way." That was so impersonal! But when Mad-Eye mentioned it, my eyes stung and I saw the truth behind his words. I just never thought about Sirius, not since I left the Dursley's. Sirius's wasn't getting a funeral, not a formal one. I overheard some people in the Three Broomsticks talking about Sirius, and not in a positive way. It can be assumed therefore that Fudge is _still _in denial. I should have been heart broken that night I stayed at the Black manor, never mind happy and bouncing to see Remus the next morning. So that was it then, Dumbledore was messing with things again, probably because he thought it was for the best. No nightmares though, no more visions. I had no complaints about that.

"Oh" was all I could say. I had been staring at my plate but if I had looked up I would have seen the daggers Remus was sending Mad-Eye, and maybe even noticed that Remus definitely wasn't on the same bloody prescription as me. Point blank, he was having a rough time with Sirius's passing. I stood up from the table and said blankly "I'm getting changed."

"Don't forget to put you contacts in. Don't get me wrong, green is your colour but it's a might bit suspicious." Mad-Eye stated at my turned back. It was too early for this, more accurately around 11 o'clock.

Apparently the two adults came to an agreement, I could open some of the presents now and some later. Man, they just had to, didn't they? Upon entering the living room I found Mad-Eye and Remus standing before a small pile of gifts. The first was from Dumbledore, it was a necklace. It had a simple metal chain and a pendant, which Remus explained had his pureblooded mother's family crest on it, The Everson's. Next I got a collection of music both muggle bands and wizard bands from the members of the DA and a subscription to the Quibbler from Luna. The last was a signed photograph of Lockhart, from Lockhart. This was a bit bizarre, Remus laughed enormously at me while explaining to Mad-Eye what happened in second year to him, I suppose he's getting his memory back! A little bit anyway.

For my birthday Mad-Eye and Remus took me, Darian to Diagon Alley. There we met up with a teenage girl version of Tonks who spent the day pretending to be my girlfriend. It was actually pretty nice having a beautiful girl holding my hand, even if she was older. She sure didn't look it in that mini skirt! I didn't even think twice as to why she knew who I was.

Mad-Eye, being the paranoid man that he is, insisted we go into Knockturn Alley and get me some things. First we found another, poorer wand makers store. There we bought me a second one, courtesy of Dumbledore, and not from Ollivanders who would never sell a second one to me. You're only allowed to own one! Well the guy we bought it from didn't care how many wands I owned so long as it was him I bought it from.

Next on his "list" was the weapon store. He carefully selected two dirks to fit into my boots. (A dirk is a small knife.) They would fit into any boots I wore, provided they weren't running shoes. The first would grow cold when Death Eater was near because of the dark mark. So basically I would have very cold feet in potions class. The second was a little different. It was slightly smaller and meant to disable the opponent, not kill them. If it even nicked you the surrounding area would go completely numb and take an hour or two to get feeling again depending on the size of the cut. It would be useful if you broke your arm and wanted the pain to go away. Both dirks were pretty sharp and had anti dulling charms on. Also Mad-Eye purchased me a wand holster and deemed it my birthday present from him. Strapped onto the underside of my right arm is where my original wand would go for emergencies. On the top I could strap one of the daggers, for when I was wearing running shoes or playing Quidditch. The store manager assumed they were for Mad-Eye and we moved on.

Tonks and Remus went shopping with me for clothes and Mad-Eye sort of tagged along. They said they needed to get me new ones as the old were a disgrace, back at Mad-Eye's we planned to burn the old rags from Dudley. Kind of symbolic they said. We got some clothes from there but we ended up going into muggle London for the CD player and more clothes. I also bought a muggle game boy and a few games thinking of Nevelle's birthday, on Dumbledore's bill. All in all, we spent loads of money and I was a much more dangerous walking weapon for Dumbledore. I passed this thought with a shrug; I needed to be protected and not to worry on my birthday! Gee maybe I needed a higher dosage of anti depressants!

Later we followed traditional birthday routine with supper (pizza made by Remus, thank Merlin) cake and presents. I got more fan mail, which we planned on burning later that night with my old clothes. Remus got me a golden snitch and I was strongly reminded of that memory with my father under the tree letting it go then catching it, only to impress Peter, and probably girls at other times. I wondered if that was where he got the idea from and if it would upset him to see me with it. He also showed me Sirius's mirror, said he found it in Sirius's bedroom. Whenever Mad-Eye got to annoying, he said, I should call him up and he'd come over and beat it outta him. Assuming he wasn't on order business. I got from Hermione, what else, a book. It was all on wandless magic and actually looked pretty interesting. Promising to read it later I opened a free subscription for the Quibbler from Luna and the stat cards of seekers from Ron. From Nevelle I got a picture of his parents and my parents, both our mother's looking equally pregnant. Everyone was waving happily and I wondered how Nevelle was able to let me have it. And lastly I got a smaller book called Pre Game Tips and Strategies from Ginny. Judging from the gifts I'd say last years experience had brought us together. I felt slightly guilty having not written to them all summer, but when I mentioned that I should send them all thank you letters Mad-Eye stated no and in a not so nice way. He and Remus would pass it on they said, but not in writing. Over paranoid or what?

An hour or so later we could be found in the back yard, burning my old clothes and tossing in fan mail as we read it. It was a good time; Remus opened up one letter and burst out laughing. Mad-Eye thought we were being attacked and immediately began looking for an attacker, while I took the letter from Moony's hand. Blushing furiously I called Mad-Eye over and he just shook his head. "You so have to keep that one Darian, a memento!" Remus said between breaths. And here's why. You opened it up and a picture of this gorgeous teenage girl I've never seen flashes you, then pulls the towel back up, and drops it again and again! Under it was written "Only a towel stands between me and Harry Potter"

The only bad thing that happened was when Remus announced that I would be taking potion lessons 3 times a week so I could get into the advanced potions class. In a way this was good, I might be able to make it as an auror but I really really didn't like potions!

The potion classes were pretty okay as it turns out. It was a lot easier to concentrate without Snape hanging over me. Dean wasn't taking potions as he failed it too and just didn't want to continue in it now that he had a choice. There were quite a few people in the class; most of who didn't even live in Hoogsmeade. I continued getting lessons from Forge and Gred on thievery convinced it was handy, not knowing exactly how helpful it would turn out to be. Things went back to normal for about 16 days, the Weasleys declared my practice in thievery perfected and Dumbledore changed the day when we would talk till the 17th. Not something I minded at all. I spend loads of my time playing Quidditch with the others and talking to Remus who turned out to be a lot of help learning wandless magic. Nevelle sent along a thank you note for the game boy, although I'm sure he had no idea what to do with it.

Unfortunately the 17th eventually came round and what happened was this. Dumbledore came over to Mad-Eye's and we sat in the living room. Mad-Eye claimed that he had some last minute stuff to do. That, if nothing else was reason for panic. Mad-Eye and last minute stuff never go in the same sentence!

Dumbledore made himself comfortable and conjured up some tea, which I was quite tired of. Not to mention that he might have put bloody anti depressants in it! Git. Dumbledore sat directly across from me and looked pretty serious. What, did Hogwarts collapse a week before school started? As tempting as it was to ask just that I sufficed with the usual "What's Voldemort been doing?" before Dumbledore could even get a word in.

I was surprised by his reaction, he _smiled. _"So Mad-Eye hasn't let you near a paper then? Good good." I stared at him blankly, _is he joking_?

"Seriously, what's been going on? I haven't had any visions, course that's probably just because of my daily dosage isn't it?" I said trying to get something out of him.

Apparently Dumbledore hadn't heard that I knew as a flicker of surprise passed his face for a second. "We can't afford another mistake like last time, you know that." His words cut deep, but didn't hurt as much as I knew they should. He continued "I will only tell you that he knows where you live, at Privet drive."

"But I'm not staying there." I reminded him, he was senile after all.

"Yes you are Harry, Nymphadora Tonks took your place so that he wouldn't know you were relocated. I trust you know of her abilities?" At my nod he continued "The Dursley's don't even know that you're gone, and at your request don't remember the incident previous to your leave, nor do the neighbors."

"The name's Darian sir." I corrected him sharply. Mad-Eye was rubbing off slightly I noticed.

"Right you are. As I was saying, he knows where the house is. We entrusted the information to Severus, who relayed it to Voldemort. He will attack the house tomorrow. We have moved the Dursley's, they're on a vacation in Hawaii, and removed any valuable possessions as it is likely the house will be destroyed."

"Hope you didn't forget the Xbox, Dudley will die without it." I snickered thinking it a possibility. I think I was trying to make sense of what he was saying, and failing miserably.

Dumbledore however missed the sarcasm completely and said seriously "It'll be taken care of." He paused for a moment considering his words. Finally decided he said his voice full of regret "There's really no easy way to say this, so bear with me."

He leaned forward in his seat, clasped his hands together and looked at me, his eyes sad and amused at the same time; a hard thing to do in itself and never an omen of good fortune for those under such a gaze. Then he stared into my eyes like he was going to propose to me and said his tone businesslike "Harry Potter is going to die tomorrow."

I let out a surprised yelp of "WHAT!" lost my balance on the chair and tipped it backwards hit the floor and crashed my head against its hard surface. I laid on my back the chair forgotten next to me and tried to concentrate on something while the room swam dangerously above me. I vaguely heard a voice saying "Harry are you ok?" and someone shaking my shoulders non to gently and slowly the room came back into focus. The first thing I saw clearly was a rather large nose, yelling in surprise I pushed it away in reflex. Realizing that I had just hit my Headmaster I mumbled a somewhat sincere apology and added rubbing the back of my head "what did you say?" sure I had misheard him. My death was the last thing we wanted! I flicked my wand out of its holster and conjured an ice pack for my head like the one they had at the Dursley's. Interested in whatever he was on about I told him to go on, it sounded relevant I'm sure.

Dumbledore appeared unsure of my health but continued regardless. "Harry Potter will be dead to the wizarding community. Voldemort is going to attack the house tomorrow and kill the Death Eater we forced to take the Polyjuice potion. One of the other Death eater's or Voldemort himself will think he is you, kill him and ultimately believe you to be dead. We, that is the Order, will stage a fight like we were guarding you, lose and it'll be done. It will make things worse for the rest of the world but you mustn't be killed. It's safer this way for you. You'll go to school in a week as Darian Everson, a pureblood with no judgments or enemies, a new student 6th year student."

"That's why Tonks had to be there, it wouldn't work if Harry wasn't always home. Under house arrest too right?" At his nod I summed up my thoughts pretty well and said "So, you lied to me _again? _Why the fuck didn't you just tell me?"

Dumbledore visibly flinched when I swore and said in his defense "You had a good summer did you not? I'll wager your much closer to your dorm mate Dean than you were previously? You didn't have any of this hanging over your head and for once got to have a normal summer break."

Something clicked from his letter before. Couldn't very well be Quidditch Captain could I? "You knew before at Grimmauld Place, a Death eater would take my place, I believe were your exact words? Well have I got news for you! Moony was right! I don't want to loose my friends over this, hell Malfoy might even like me now I'm pureblooded! You're ruining my chances of playing Quidditch, ever!" Without my knowledge a vase broke behind me and the pages in open books flicked to the end as the wind picked up.

"Now Darian there's an idea." Dumbledore said brightly. "I'm giving you an opportunity to do so. You could never play professionally, most times even in the house league because of your fame. With this new development, however, what's stopping you? Nobody will be trying to jinx you from the stands, and people won't judge you by your name. You can reintroduce yourself to your friends; in theory they should like you just the same. I do remember you saying that you disliked fame?"

Oooo sneaky. Very Slytherin. It didn't sound like such a bad idea though. Still unknown to me the havoc behind me calmed down and everything settled. I was brought out of my thoughts when Dumbledore asked to see the necklace he gave me. I always had it on, Mad-Eye made sure of that. I tugged it out from under my shirt and showed it to him. He looked pleased and got up, walked behind me and started looking for the clasp. "What are you doing?" I asked getting up. Ever heard of person space?

"Please sit back down. This will only take a moment. Ah there we are!" He exclaimed, having found it. He whispered a few choice words I couldn't make out and apparently satisfied sat back down.

"Errrr…" was all I could say to his strange and spontaneous behaviour.

"I'm also here to talk about the courses you are going to attend in the new school year and take you on a tour of Hogwarts. I feel however that under the circumstances we can skip the latter. Don't you agree?" Dumbledore said this all completely without expression. I think I was slightly overwhelmed having just discovered that my identity was about to be destroyed and maybe the bump on the head didn't help. Tour my ass, I should be giving him one with all the secret passages I know! I said nothing and he spoke again "I feel it is unwise for you to continue in all of Harry Potter's classes especially with your sudden appearance so near to his death. What would you like to drop?"

After some debate it was decided that I would drop Care Of Magical Creatures, Divination, which I was quite agreeable to and History of Magic. Instead I'd be taking Physical Education which was an open course, otherwise known as gym and join the DA, hopefully I'd at least be able to help with it. Dumbledore specifically forbid me from teaching it myself, claiming that it was a bit of a giveaway. I'd also be taking Astronomy, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology.

The meeting coming to a close I demanded "Tell me what Voldemort's been up to. I can't go to school not knowing!"

"No less than is expected. There have been many casualties I won't deny it but this is a war. Most recent news suggests that everyone close to you is fine. You are a bit ahead of the news today. Don't tell anyone." He cautioned "I do have a bit more to discuss with you. How has you magic been coming?"

"I keep blowing stuff up!" I yelled frustrated, thinking of just yesterday when I broke all the dishes, and the table and basically destroyed the kitchen for no apparent reason. I wasn't even that upset! "Stuff around me just spontaneously explodes; I haven't even been getting overly pissed off!" I yelled, not realizing that I just broke my Headmasters glasses, tipped over the book shelf and more of the usual. If this wasn't a magic house, things would get pretty expensive around here! "Sorry about that." I said. I had put my wand away, so I used some simple wandless magic to fix the mess. Dumbledore appeared fairly impressed.

"Your magic is growing. This happens to all wizards around your age, just not at this magnitude. Most times it's not even noticeable. What is happening is a good sign, if only a little inconvenient. When you return to class you will be surprised at your power. It will take some adjusting too. Do us all a favour and try not to show off, you might scare some of the younger students, as well as some of the staff." Dumbledore said this with a smile and laughed a bit.

"I'll try not to sir." I said not about to guarantee anything.

"The only reason you can do that and not get in trouble is because you're not down in the Ministry's file. Starting tomorrow you will have to remember not to do that as they will know about it, even here. I will advice them to ignore your accidental magic as it is bound to happen anyway. I will also be alerting them of your conditions on staying here and you will be enrolled in our school again. Try not to blow up to many inanimate objects in the mean time?" With this Dumbledore excused himself and left the house to go about his business.

Much of my spare time was spent going hard core in Quidditch and fantasizing what the new school year would be like for me. Remus picked up all my school books for me and after a quick stop in Diagon Alley I had a new set of school clothes. The days until September 1st passed quickly and without a warning letter from the Ministry. Dean promised to sit with me on the train as I was new and had no friends and for once in my life I couldn't wait to meet Malfoy.


	11. Home Again

Home Again

Despite the apparent calm during the final week of my Holiday, the 18th was mass panic. It was the day their hero fell, The-Boy-Who-Lived and although I avoided most of the panicking citizens by playing Quidditch with the others, I couldn't help but notice the forlorn expressions worn by everyone throughout the remaining summer break. I didn't know the grim details of the supposed death, just the date. My friends even stopped playing the next day because everyone knew that their hope was gone. I only found out then that I had become the hero of the wizarding world again and was looking good in the public eye. My funeral must have been the largest ever held. I wouldn't know as I didn't attend.

It was only that day that I realized how much I was needed, even without the prophesy my life was key in this war. As September 1st neared I dreaded seeing my friends and seeing their hurt faces; yet at the same time hoping that they were upset about my supposed death. I knew what it was like to lose someone close to you and felt guilty about putting them through it.

I asked around and discovered that it was Bellatrix Lestrange who had killed "Harry Potter", something Voldemort can't have been very happy about. Apparently Voldemort had gathered his top killers and attacked Privet Drive and therefore he himself had witnessed my demise. Everyone said that the worst part was that he took my dead body with him, and had yet to return it. He had probably wanted to torture me properly first and instead was going to take my body , kind of like a trophy. Mad-Eye informed me that the second the Death Eater was killed the potion would keep him in my likeness, he wouldn't change back. For all I cared, he could keep it! This action really pissed me off, it was so dirty and underhanded!

All in all I found my self looking forward to the day when I could let the dye run out of my hair and smile as I point my wand at Trixie's face, say something suitable to my hate for the woman and put a rather large whole in that hollow head. I really do hate her more than Voldemort. It's personal now.

In any case it was common knowledge that Harry Potter had died, even to the muggle borns. Remus helped me pack my things up and we Flooed into London to get on the train. We would have gone with Dean but we were running a bit late as usual. Besides, all Dean wanted to talk about was how he had been Harry Potter's dorm mate and about how weird it was going to be without him. He truly was going to miss me. Or, rather miss who I was or something. Ow, headache.

Once again I stood facing the platform between nine and ten. Me and Remus walked on in casually pointing at different trains as if to figure out which was ours, common place behavior at a train station. Once on the other side one particular pair of people immediately caught my attention in the corner. We were separated by a small crowd of 3rd years but there was no mistaking it. Ron was _hugging _Hermione, patting her back as her head leaned against his shoulder. Were they going out? No, it didn't look that way. Then they would be kissing, right? But Ron looked pretty comfortable. These thoughts were tossed out quickly as Hermione broke the embraced and wiped her hand across her eyes, she had been crying. I tried to convince myself that maybe it had something to do with the Order but I knew it was my fault, truly and entirely. They were upset over Harry Potter's death, their best mate. The sight filled me with guilt and suddenly I wasn't so enthusiastic anymore.

I set my face and moved to go to them, tell them I was Ok. I had to convince them. I couldn't stand seeing them like this. I only made it one step before Remus grabbed my eldow and turned me around to face him, about to give me a warning something like "nobody can know" or "you can talk to them later" but I silenced him with a glare. Any anger I should have felt at the stupid plan last week was emerging now. About to let off a very loud objection I was cut short as well as Remus recognized the situation (clearly he was very aware of my temper) and hit me with a whispered_ silencio_. That's one way to end an argument.

This only served to piss me off further and the results were these, all of which happened in quick succession. Two of the nearby third years were sent flying (much like Dudley was only they were lighter and thus went farther), the wind picked up and the lights went out, suddenly causing more people to topple and fall over. The whistle on the train blew signaling everyone to get on and a spell went off from one of the guards supervising the platform creating a very loud "Bang!" much like a muggle firecracker. The sudden noise only served to frighten students into thinking that they were being attacked by Death Eaters and in simple terms, create wide spread panic. Remus and I, with a lack of any other ideas, boarded the train. Having set an example we were soon after followed by everyone else, that is once it was clear they were safe and not about to be slaughtered or something otherwise undesirable.

Finally everything was settled and the train was moving. I of course was still silenced as Moony had forgotten to cast the counter curse and, go figure, had to suddenly go to the bathroom. Quite fed up of this from everyone I strained my voice trying to fight the curse off. I did succeed after a few minutes of embarrassment and odd looks from students passing by. Having made a mental note to myself to hex Moony into oblivion I made my way through the compartments, grumbling to myself as I went (not advised with a throat that sore let me tell you) in search of Dean, supposedly the only person I knew on the train.

The ride to Hogwarts was shockingly uneventful and highly aggravating. I had to be introduced to everyone in 6th year, clearly Dean was more social than I realized. The only people I didn't meet were the Slytherins and my immediate friends. We did pass their compartment but we moved on, it was pretty full of girls crying and boys looking peeved off or not all there. Everyone I met seemed interested to know that I was related to their former Professor and pretty much everyone asked if I was a werewolf too. Thank Merlin I hadn't met up with Draco, with my magic he'd probably get thrown halfway to Mars, not that that was a bad thing but it would raise a few questions. Maybe he wasn't here, maybe his mom let him go to Durmstrang!

Hours later we reached Hogwarts. As instructed previously I went in to the castle with the older students but once I was in I went straight to the room where I knew my Professor would explain the sorting process. Many of the eleven year olds stood close to me as if I could save them from an attacking troll, which technically I could. They were just as I had been, scared, nervous and slightly nauseous. I ignored most of the explanation (it wasn't exactly riveting) and we moved into the Great Hall. The hall was not as full as usual and I could only assume some students were not allowed to attend, rather than dead.

To my complete confusion, I looked to the staff table interested to see who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was and found Moony sitting there. Nobody had mentioned that! Sheesh, I was supposed to be his nephew and yet I didn't know where he worked? Taking in the rest of the Hall my mood darkened; the hall was draped in black. The school banners were even replaced with solid black cloth, symbolic no doubt.

Dumbledore stepped in and like when Cedric died, asked for a minute of silence for those who were lost over the summer break He read off a list of names, most of whom I didn't know and some who I had heard of. Nobody I loved. The numbers were to high, how many had died because I sat around and played Quidditch all summer? My name was among those, and I swear I had a few extra sobs directly after my name! The nearby chairs started shaking, with the students still in them and I forced myself to be neutral. Next Dumbledore listed the new year notices including that the school was welcoming a new transfer student, nephew of their Proffesor Lupin, me.

Names were called and I was I'll admit more than a little nervous. It didn't bring me any confidence standing with the first years as some of them were tall for their age and therefore were embarrassingly close to being taller than me. My name was one of the first in the alphabetical order and so all too soon the Sorting Hat called "Everson, Darian" more loudly than I would have liked. The whispers began. Oooo a new 6th year boy o replace Potter. Yippee. It never even occurred to me that some students might be thinking more of my looks but they most likely were. That and this sort of thing was a strange occurance. Hopefully Hermione would be to distracted to assume anything other than they simply needed more students.

I walked to the stool feinting confidence (or snobbery) and placed the hat on my head. The noise in the hall was louder than when I got sorted last time, fewer people felt the need to pay attention. _Cause I'm not famous now_. At least there was one upside. I made the conversation short "Please don't pick at my brain, just put me in Gryffindor." To my great surprise the hat seemed to have no to problems with this and did just that.

"Gryffindor!" It rang out and McGonagall lifted the hat from my head after which I continued the confident walk to the Gryffindor table. The hall clapped politely, like it had for the first years. It was weird having so little attention. Glancing around I saw Malfoy clapping politely and looking right at me. It was so weird seeing him be so respectful and polite! Passing it off as a freakish never going to happen again incident I made my way over to the end of the table. I caught one or two girls watching as I sat down next to Dean, why I have no idea.

Kids were sorted, food was eaten, Hermione had cried some more and the boys in my dorm wouldn't shut up. For example: "That was the most depressing meal I have ever sat through." Seamus commented to nobody in particular.

"Because this has been the most depressing summer we've ever had you git." Ron shot back, clearly not in the best mood. I had noticed he hadn't eaten a whole lot at the feast; I had kept glancing at all of my house mates, curious to see how they were, or if they were all there. I suppose it must have looked like I was simply in a new place and trying to get to know the people but was shy or something.

Out of the blue Ron asked "Did you know Harry than?" not meeting my eyes. I looked at him startled; I hadn't had a chance to even introduce myself yet.

"No" I replied. "Uncle Remus told me about him though, did he teach 'im?"

I tried to stay interested, but it was old news. The only thing I found interesting was Ron's claim to be the best Quidditch player ever. I "forgot" to mention my own abilities and soon after rolled over to sleep. I would have to be careful tomorrow, I still didn't know them yet.

Next morning I woke up early as was now my usual and laid there for a good hour. I was doing to much thinking lately. My thoughts that morning were full of uncertainty. Ron didn't seem to warm up to me much the night before, the main concern was _what if they don't like me?_ Sounds childish, yes, but the pressure was there.

The bathroom was still free so I claimed it and had a shower and put in the blue contacts. The blond hair wasn't weird anymore, I had gotten used to it. I seriously doubted that I would ever adjust to the blue eyes though, green was way better, but it was part of the disguise. My best friends hadn't even recognized me, there was no chance anyone else would. _Dumbledore's plot may just work out after all._

"Ahhhhhh, I can't find my wand!" Neville complained loudly once everyone had awoken.

"Well suck it up, nobody can exactly lend you one." Ron replied, just as grumpy as yesterday. He was not being himself, he's not the friend I remember. Apparently my confusion showed on my face as Ron asked angrily "What's your problem?" Completely taken aback I chose to say nothing and instead slipped on my boots, discreetly made sure the dirks were secure and headed down to breakfast, stuff suddenly exploding all the way.

After a short breakfast (spent alone as most students were still in their dorms) I was heading back to the common room when a large heavy object came darting out from around the corner and collided head on with me, sending us both to the floor in a tangle. Getting up and collecting the books that fell from my bag I looked up and met Hermione. She appeared to be in a better state now, although she had dark circles under her eyes. _She's upset 'cause I'm dead, because I am not here. This castle must be a constant reminder, like Blacks house was for me. _I had been staring at her while these thoughts troubled me, the last glazing my eyes. "You all right?" I asked.

"Ya, I'm fine. Um, your Darian right?" She replied shyly. I on the other hand was perfectly comforable, and excited to see her. She was my friend after all. She had grown up over the summer and even looked pretty, this however, did not make me think of her like I had Cho Chang. Hermione was a friend, or rather, about to become one.

"Yep." I confirmed. In order to make her a friend I had to show her we had common interests so I asked "Hey, my uncle showed me where everything is but the library, do you think you could help me out?" This was going to kill me.

"Oh, of course! It's this way." Hermione said. Turns out she had been on her way there, big surprise. She launched into a guided tour of Hogwarts, explaining in detail every aspect of the castle. By the time we got to the library, breakfast was over and we proceeded to our class. McGonagall had handed me my table already for the week when I walked in to the Great Hall. Why she was up was beyond me. First was Charms class, which Hermione had with me.

"That's not a spell it's a speech impediment!" Harry growled angrily, quite fed up with the charm. He couldn't for the life of him pronounce it right.

"Darian, really it's not that hard look. Colleketitagro" Hermione said. The spell was meant to neatly put things where you wanted them. You could pack you suitcase in a second, with everything folded. Hermione's towels all folded and stacked neatly on top of each other.

Harry turned back to his pile to try again and focused hard on what he wanted them to do. _Stack, stack, stack. AHHHHHHH! _The towels had caught fire, for no reason. He hadn't even cast the spell yet. "watjura." Harry shot at the burning towels, extinguishing the flames before anyone else had a chance to even make a good loud scream. Course everyone was looking at him funny, and Ron said from the left of Hermione "Way to cool down mate." This made everyone laugh, but Harry who was busy calming himself down, as the last thing he wanted now was to break the nearby ink well. Dean on his other side clapped his back reassuringly, but his face cracked in a smile. He was aware of his friends habit of accidental magic.

"Mr. Everson! I want you to work on that spell for your homework. Class dismissed." Apparently everyone thought he had cast the spell on purpose, except Hermione who hadn't heard him cast one. Luckily she didn't say anything about it.

Next of the day was Potions and then Transfiguration. Harry's teacher from summer had told him that potions should be easier now; apparently all that was needed was a little bit of encouragement and a lesson on the basics of potion making. Dumbledore had placed him in the Potions class with an E score on his owls, a score that he now had to live up to. Out of the Gryffindors only Darian, Hermione, and three others had passed the course and chosen to take it. On the way down they met Malfoy and his followers, who sped past Hermione and his surrounding Gryffindors. Malfoy approached him while his "friends" stayed politely out of the way. He shook Darian's hand vigorously and said "An Everson, right?" At Harry's nod he continued "I'm Draco Malfoy, course you probably know that." Malfoy smiled broadly and took his shoulder in an embrace and continued down the hall to the dungeons, half dragging him. Malfoy probably did not realize this fact however as he went on to say "Shame you got Gryffindor, pureblood's like us do better in Slytherin, away from all that muggle trash. Stick with me and you'll do fine. I remember Harry Potter, now he really should have stayed away from them." He stated indicating the Gryffindors. "Make friends like that and the Death Eaters will come after you." Malfoy smiled again, the way he said the last bit sounded like a muggle referring to the boogey men, so Darian laughed as if remembering a part of his own childhood. Malfoy's friends joined in and the only people in the hall no amused were of course, his friends.

About then they reached the class and Darian went to sit with Hermione, unsuccessful as Malfoy steered him towards the nearest table and sat down, clearly expecting him to do the same. With a nervous look to Hermione, who returned a glance of absolute betrayal Harry sat, deadly aware of how cruel Malfoy was. By the end of the class, however, all Harry was aware of was that Malfoy was excellent at potions and good to his friends, or rather who he wanted to be friends.

Malfoy did most of the work, leaving Darian to chop up and grind the ingredients. He didn't even have to add them. Or wasn't allowed to, Malfoy didn't appreciate others help in this area. This did not make him a good person by any means. Malfoy did most of the talking, and the conversation spun entirely around mudbloods and how inappropriate it was to have to share the school with them, he seemed intent on making Darian a friend though.

Snape was basically his usual self; Harry did have to note that Snape had given him a glance once which scared him as it wasn't full of hate and severe and total loathing. His enemies couldn't recognize him and were even trying to befriend him! While Ron was being a prat and now Hermione thought he was all for the Slytherins. He hadn't met any of his other friends yet.

Gryffindor lost only five points that lesson, a new record for those of his year. Class finally ended and he looked for Hermione in the exiting crowd. He spotted her halfway down the hall and ran up to her, ready to apologize profusely for having to leave. It was Hermione who had promised to sit with him and he had essentially ditched her.

"Hey, Mione!" He called from behind her. She turned and looked at him, clearly more than a little peeved. "Sorry I had to leave you there, Malfoy just wouldn't shut up! Are you ok?"

Hermione's lip was trembling and she said, her voice shaking "You sound just like him." Taken aback by this statement he could find nothing to say. He knew exactly who she meant. So instead asked "Come on, let's go eat lunch. Okay?" hoping that she would let it slide, like she had in charms that morning.

Lunch a very social affair for Darian. As the new guy, everyone wanted to get to know him and not just the Gryffindors. Begging for a way out he looked at Moony up at the staff table. Moony was completely unhelpful as he only waved happily and continued eating. It was okay though, at least he wasn't judged, at least he wasn't famous. Harry saw Luna and Ginny sitting together who looked even worse than Hermione. _Maybe Luna had a crush on me?_ Dean, who was with him, saw where he was looking and frowned. "You don't want to go there. They're still upset over Harry. We all are, but they were with him when he went to the Ministry. The names were all in the paper and everything, kind of embarrassed themselves at an interview too. Claimed Sirius Black was on their side, which didn't go down well with anyone. Come on." Nobody wanted to hear that Sirius was a good guy, people like a mass murderer better. Fudge had ignored the facts _again._ We went to transfiguration where I got to sit next to Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville. Neville talked with Dean and Seamus, leaving him to talk to Ron.

"So where did you grow up?" Ron asked.

"Uhhh, we moved, a lot. So pretty much everywhere."

"Oh lucky, I have lived in the same house all my life."

"No way, you get to keep your friends; I always have to make new ones."

"I'd be easier not knowing they died then…" Ron said distantly. Ouch, I really had to watch what I said. Behind me the shelf fell over for no reason but I caught it with some quick wandless magic before all the books fell out and made a mess, something Ron failed to notice at all. Hermione made a note of it though, she saw what happened from a nearby table.

In an attempt to cheer him up Harry asked, knowing full well the answer "Is there Quidditch at this school?"

It worked and Ron replied "Course! I am actually the Keeper. Didn't I tell you last night?"

"I fell asleep, sorry but I had a long day!" Darian said lamely.

Ron laughed "Got that mate. Hey look I did it!" He said pointing at his pin cushion. We were doing revision as Professor McGonagall thought we could use some time to get used to it again. Harry had gotten it on his first try; he had been using my magic all summer so this was a small task especially compared to dueling with Mad-Eye. That had been a nightmare but he had gotten better at it before the end, even beaten once or twice. "Anyway, do you play or something." Ron asked, willing to continue the conversation.

"Ya, pretty much Beater or Seeker." The Quiddich chat went to the end of class. Ron suggested that I try out for the team as a Beater, but didn't say anything about a Seeker. Turns out, Ron was the team captain. Something I'm sure Ron was proud of, he had found out before his best friend kicked the can so he couldn't think he got it just because I didn't which would make it better for him. He said he was planning tryouts in about two weeks, so I had till then to practice.

When class ended McGonagall asked to see Darian after class. He approached her desk where she sat and she said simply "Good work today Mr. Everson." _It felt so weird being called that! _"Your uncle would like to chat with you. He's either in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room or the Staff room. Do you know where that is?"

"Ya, thanks." I left the room and found Dean next to the door looking apprehensive.

"What did she want?" He asked

"Just to tell me that my uncle Remus wants to see me."

"Oh, I didn't know his first name is Remus. You know where to find him?" I said yes and we parted. I found Remus in his class room. He was sorting through papers.

"Hey Moony!"

The Werewolf looked up and said happily "I've been meaning to ask you, how was your trip?"

"It was fine. Except some jerk went and silenced me, throat was sore for the rest of the day." I hinted.

Moony's eyes widened in realization and he said "Oh, sorry about that. I forgot! You were so quiet…" having been reminded of that spell Remus cast one around his office, incase we said something we shouldn't.

"Actually, Malfoy was _nice_ to me in Potions, why would he do that? I'm still in Gryffindor." I asked, still confused at the mere thought.

"Oh, should have warned you about that. The Everson's are not only pureblooded but also very wealthy. Course, they don't exactly share the wealth." Now that I thought about it, Remus wasn't looking like his usual shabby self. Anticipating my question Remus said "Sirius left me most his money, said I could use it. The rest goes to you. He gave you some interesting things too, I wanted to tell you earlier but I wanted it to sink in first." _That just ruined my day._

"Like what?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice even. Moony pulled a trunk around from the corner, shrunk it and gave it to him.

"Open that later, whenever you're ready. You can always call me with your mirror, I know you bring it every where." He was right too; it was always in his pocket. The only other thing he always had with him was his time turner, it wouldn't do to have someone find that, it was illegal for him to have one. They talked for a while mostly about his friends and how important it was for him to stay a secret. To his embarrassment Remus passed on a message from Dumbledore. He was to write down all the magic he accidentally did and the circumstances for each everyday and give it to Remus, who would them give it to the Headmaster. Regardless that the magic may have had nothing to do with what he was doing. Basically Dumbledore wanted to keep track of him. In all, it was something like a diary, only someone else would be reading every entry and thus not very personal.

On the way down to diner in the Great Hall all the suites of armor they past shook and fell down, and the lights flickered. It was actually quite disturbing if one didn't know what was going on. Remus commented that it was "quite the display of attitude" which lightened the mood and Harry couldn't wait for his first Defense class tomorrow; he missed Remus as a teacher.


	12. Home Again Con't

Home Again con't

All was quiet in the sixth year dorms that night. Despite that only Darian's light was on none of the boys were asleep, silent, but not asleep. Perhaps the dull scratching of Darian's quill in his "diary" was keeping them awake, but not likely. Better off placing a bet on depression, especially for Ronald. They had attended Harry Potter's funeral not long ago!

If they had looked over his shoulder they would have seen not an account of his thoughts but a rather extensive list of mishaps, more accurately described as a chart. Column one was cause, second was victim, third was what happened and the last was solution. For example, under cause it said "spontaneous", under victim it said "shelf", under what happened it read "toppled over and nearly squashed me and Ron" and under solution it had in minute writing "I wandlessly put it upright, and nobody saw a thing". This took a good hour of his time it was that bloody long.

Darian's corner of the room was quite impersonal; it had to be this early on. Anything he owned was Harry Potter's and thus had been confiscated by either Moony or Dumbledore. All he really had was a golden snitch, multiple WWW jokes, some chocolate frog cards and a picture of his "parents" the Everson's who (forgive the author for forgetting to mention) had died over the summer. This was convenient in a way; it made more sense for Darian to live with someone other than his direct family.

Because The-Boy-Who-Was-Supposedly-Dead had to write that damned diary thing for Dumbledore he hadn't gotten to sleep until late. In consequence he was awoken by a rather loud "Darian! You are going to be late! I'll give you a D!" loudly yelled from the mirror residing on his dresser. With a yelp his body jumped out of bed in a rush to get out from under the covers succeeding only in landing with a hard thump on the floor. The blanket disappeared and he frantically opened the dresser drawer, grabbed a shirt and slipped it on. He pulled out the first pair of pants he saw and put those on as well, or rather tried to. Hoping on one foot he dragged the pant leg up and in doing the same with the other leg lost his balance and met the floor again on his rump.

"Moony! Bloody Hell why didn't you get me up sooner you git!" Darian grumbled, clearly not a morning person.

"Easy on pal, I had a class to prepare. Besides, Prongs never fell out of the bed like that! Well… Not often. He was rather used to the abuse. Come here for a sec." Harry picked up the mirror.

"What?" Harry asked, none to pleased.

I thought so. Your eyes tend to change colours do they? Is Ron in there with you?"

"Wha-?" Harry sputtered having stopped dead, in the middle of getting his cloak off; he had it on inside out.

"Uhhhh ya. I didn't sleep good" Ron's voice said directly behind him. Harry quickly grabbed his wand and whispered the charm to fix his eyes while Remus talked loudly about tardiness and then smiled in the mirror satisfied. Turning around Harry saw Ron sitting on his bed calmly and still in his pyjama's. Under Harry's blue eyed gaze Ron got up and slowly went to his own drawer, clearly about to get ready to go. Quite frankly, Ron was acting weird. Darian ignored this however and finished getting ready. He slipped on his wand holster, which now had a charm on it so the students would simply not notice it. If they saw it and the wand they wouldn't pass it a second thought. He carefully slipped on his boots, aware of the dirks hidden on the inside. Lastly he pocketed the mirror and slipped on his time turner with Remus nagging him about moving faster and waited impatiently for his friend.

2 minutes later Darian and Ron were racing down the halls in an attempt not to be late for the first defence class of the year, Ron no doubt ready to blow Darian away with his talent in that field from his training with the famous Harry Potter. Harry was in much better shape and thus had to wait up for Ron who was soon panting and out of breath. "Come on, hurry up!" Darian pleaded, not wanting to go on ahead without Ron. This was all well and good as technically he didn't know the school off by heart yet. Right?

Give it another 10 and they reached the door, Harry skidded to a halt neatly and Ron who wasn't nearly as coordinated slipped and landed hard on his back right behind Harry or to everyone else, the new kid. This naturally only made the embarrassment worse for the unfortunate Ron and the full class burst out in laughter at the scene.

"Calm down class. Darian, Ron, glad you could make it." Remus, sorry, Professor Lupin said with a smile. Every girl in the room with a spare seat was waving him over and inviting him to sit next to them. This was something Harry was completely unfamiliar with, fame sure. Piece of cake. But popularity and being famous are two very different things. Blushing furiously for the state of his arrival and the generous amount of feminine attention he hastily took a seat next to Hermione. All the while Ron was busy prying himself from the cold floor.

"I'm okay. Don't worry about me." Ron said and to his extreme disappointment, nobody did.

Having sat down Darian loosely put down his bag and grinned sheepishly at Hermione fully expecting her to roll her eyes and sigh in frustration, like she normally would. She did not. Instead she _giggled _and brought her hands up to cover her mouth and blushed a deep red. Deciding to ignore this strange behavior he turned to see Ron take a seat grumpily next to Neville a few seats down the row and more too his surprise, Ron shot him a death glare. What Ron was mad at him for, he had no idea.

"Okay, I don't remember all of you so when I call your name indicate that you are present, preferably with the traditional "here" alright?" Remus was about halfway through the list when it caught fire for no reason at all. _Ooops_. Harry thought wearily. It was very amusing to see the teacher jump out of his chair like he had got nipped in the butt by something, presumably with sharp teeth. Remus whipped out his wand and shot water at the paper in a vain attempt to save his effort. Instead all he succeeded in was drenching the top of his desk. Panting slightly Remus called out "class dismissed". Nothing more needed to be said as everyone, save Darian Ron and Hermione was up and out in a flash.

The three got up and walked to their teacher's desk, Darian a few steps behind. "Professor Lupin what happened?" Hermione asked worried, always the curious one.

"Probably just some accidental magic Hermione. I am teaching a class of hormonal adolescents you know." Hermione cast a drying charm on the desk which dried in a moment, although all the papers on it were ruined, even if they hadn't caught fire. "Thank you." Remus said, probably feeling stupid for not having thought of that one himself. An uncomfortable silence came between them; Moony and Darian wanted Ron and Hermione to leave so Harry could hand off his diary and maybe laugh about it while the afore mentioned friends liked their professor and probably wanted to hear about the Order and the war but couldn't with Darian standing there. They were at a stand still. Remus spoke first. "Excuse me you two." He began, indicating Ron and Hermione. "But Darian and I have to talk about some guardianship things so…"

"Guardianship?" Hermione asked, leaving the question in the air. _Oshitoshitoshit. _The very last thing he needed was to make up some lie about what happened. Moony had apparently assumed that Harry had mentioned his history a little already. Guessed wrong.

"I'll explain it later. Promise." Harry heard himself say.

"No pressure mate. We'll see ya later." Ron said. This was surprisingly understanding of him. They left together and Harry turned back to Moony.

"What are you going to tell them?" Remus asked.

"Errrr, I got dropped off at your house by a stork?" Harry replied.

"I doubt they'll be convinced. I've got to bring this to Dumbledore anyway so we'll figure it out on the way." Remus said and picked up Harry's diary.

"Dumbledore? Can't I just stay here?" Harry asked, not liking the idea. He just didn't like the Headmaster anymore, which was completely understandable. He was way too manipulative to do him any good. Who wants to bet Dumbledore is the reason why Remus and Moody were forbidden to tell him anything that happened with the Order so as not to upset him? Among other things he just didn't want to think about. All thoughts related to Dumbledore lead to a rather nasty headache.

"He doesn't bite." Remus said, steering Harry out the doorway. Remus said a silence charm Harry didn't know but apparently made people around them unable to hear their conversation. Dumbledore's office was a ways away after all, no point in being overheard.

"Are you really sure?" Harry pressed. "I mean, theoretically he does bite. If he gets too close, nothing good comes of it." At this Moony laughed, it was a good sound. That man needed to laugh more often. "Honestly though! Anytime he wants to speak with you it's never to ask how your day was, he's always gotta bring bad news, a change in plans or-" Here Harry stopped again, only this time because Remus was leaning against the wall for support he was laughing so hard.

"Stop, please!" Moony begged between gasps for breath.

Harry wasn't laughing. "You can't mean to say that you aren't the least bit angry with him? For what he's done? Sure, the guys only human but he's made huge mistakes with things he had no _business_ being in! Did he have the right, to keep me from a life with Sirius? Or you? And to keep me in the dark all last year? How about now, huh? I'm dead right? The dead don't talk, hell nobody even asks dead people things. And still I can't know anything! And even this summer, he made me go with Mad-Eye knowing full well where I wanted to be." Now Remus wasn't laughing, but looking straight at Harry, Darian, at a very angry wizard.

Remus felt the cool wind rush past his face, and he took in the darkness flickering around the boys face. He heard the suits of amour, statues and candle holders fall over all around with a crash and some distance down the hall a group of girls yelled and their footsteps faded around the corner. Harry seemed to be radiating magic, a power that was just begging to be let loose, and slowly had been. Every time he knocked over a shelf or set a paper on fire unintentionally. His magic needed to be used up; like a child with too much energy. A very dangerous one. Panicking slightly he said "Calm down Harry!"

"Calm down eh? Why? Do you need to give me more drugs? That was real lame of him. It was Dumbledore's idea, wasn't it?" Harry stated. Remus made no objection. "Thought so." Harry moved back against the opposite wall and still failed to notice the magic around them. Luckily he had that silencer up, nobody had heard them but any minute teachers were bound to wonder who was knocking over the suits of armour, those things sure made a racket when they went down.

"Let's go outside for a bit. I'll bet a good broom ride will make everything look better." Remus suggested, knowing that Harry hadn't been on one since Mad-Eye's a whole two days ago. That kid loved to fly; it should calm him down enough to talk rationally a little later.

"I don't want it to look better Moony, because it won't be better. That's a false hope that will just lead to another death. Grim, but that's it." Harry said the last with a bitter laugh, a sound that a boy his age shouldn't know how to make. Despite his negativity towards the idea the boy turned and went in the direction of his dormitory. Sighing with relief Remus followed, watching the thrown objects bounce back into place after Harry was far enough away. The wind died down and he appeared normal by the time he got upstairs, Remus in tow. "I'll be right back." And Harry went to get his broom.

What Harry had said was all true, and he knew it. But Harry was a bit hard on Dumbledore, clearly he couldn't understand that this was a war and Dumbledore was the coach. Sometimes he had to make tough decisions and it could only be him. He was touched however that Harry had wanted so much to live with him, wished that he had lived his life from childhood with him. That meant a lot to a lonely werewolf.

Harry came back a few moments later carrying his broom with one hand and a golden snitch in the other, ignoring the people in the common room offering to fly with him. All the pretty girls even! The pitch was empty and Harry took flight. It nearly made Remus sick just watching Harry go upside down and pull even with the ground after a dive moments before he would have collided with it. And not once did he get himself hurt. The time dragged on and soon lunch time came. Harry was in a better mood and even apologized for what he said; blaming it on the fact that he had missed breakfast, which he pointed out was in fact Moon's own fault for waiting till class started to call him.

Darian's lunch hour was much like the former day, more of being introduced to people. Now though he was really meeting people he had never met or even seen, there were a lot of people at this school. Today his tour guides were all girls, Parvati and her crowd. They had seemed extremely happy when he agreed to have lunch with them, and to his confusion Hermione looked furious. He had caught sight of Dean and Neville and his crowd but when he moved to go near them, the girls would suddenly find someone new to introduce him to. They must have been possessed or something! Not that he minded it was rather nice to hold a girls hand! He met up with Malfoy as well, but upon seeing his clingy girls decided to let him be, for whatever reason. Knowing Malfoy, he probably thought Darian was dating them all. Lunch ended and not once had he looked to Moony for help, he had rather enjoyed himself. (Typical guy)

Next up he had charms class with Flitwick. They didn't actually do a whole lot, mostly Professor Flitwick just lectured them on their NEWTS in seventh year and told them all of what they would be going over this year. Big mistake that; Hermione would have it all down by the end of the week. The Charms class was packed, not many had failed it like defense, you sure wouldn't see many Slytherins in that class. Sixth and Seventh years had classes combined with all the houses too, not just paired up. Because of this, Malfoy had tried to catch his eye and sit with him, an action Darian pretended not to notice. Malfoy is a prat.

Last of the day he had Phys Ed, a class he hadn't been in since elementary school. It was hard to forget how to play muggle sports though; they were for the most part pretty straight forward. But now he was pure-blooded and supposedly had never head of football or frisbee. This class would be interesting.

"Everybody here? Good. Some new faces here this year. For those of you that don't know me, I am Madam Hooch. We will be learning and practicing muggle sports as well as some wizarding sports. You are not to perform any magic during this class, you will leave your wands in the change rooms, they won't be needed. Is that understood?" At everyone's nod the teacher continued "this is a fifth, sixth seventh year gym class. Today obviously nobody is prepared so we'll just do some flying but tomorrow be ready to play some soccer."

That said she requested that everyone take off their jewellery and valuables and their wand and put them on the ground. Darian off course had a problem with this. Not only did he not want to leave his wand, time turner and mirror down there where anybody could take them, but he couldn't take off the necklace Dumbledore had given him.

Day after Dumbledore's last visit

_Harry was getting ready for a quick soak in the shower. He was having a bit of trouble with his necklace though. Growling with frustration he marched into the backyard, wearing only a pair of jeans and the necklace and said in a hurry "Mad-Eye, help me get this off?"_

_Mad-Eye turned from the fence he was safety proofing and took in Harry's state. Wasn't hard to guess what he wanted. "Nah, leave it on looks good on ye!"_

"_I want to have a shower Mad-Eye, just undo the clasp for me?" now Harry had moved over to Moody and turned around so the auror could have easy access to the clasp._

_Mad-Eye fingered the chain for a bit then started laughing! "You'll never lose this trinket that's for sure! Looks like Albus got rid off that piece!" Mad-Eye muttered a cutting curse and started laughing harder. "Unbreakable too! Take it up with your Headmaster, I can't help ye!" _

Present day

So, Dumbledore had permanently charmed the necklace around his neck, why? NO idea, just another reason to avoid seeing Dumbledore. It's not like he'd get a straight answer anyway! Deciding to simply hide his valuables in his pockets, Darian only put down his wand. Not both of them of course, just the newer one he had.

Madam Hooch went through a quick lesson on how to fly and the proper positioning before letting them even mount up. Clearly some people still hadn't gotten a hold of it. Finally she had them do some very, very simple drills, which some people had problems with. Not just anybody could fly in a straight line!

Then they split the class in half and played a game. Darian and Dean ended up playing chaser on the same team. Seamus was a beater on the other team and the majority of his friends had Care of Magical Creatures, therefore not here. Darian and Dean worked well together, Dean being the better chaser. Darian was a way better flyer though and got around the beaters like nothing. That and he accidentally sent a bludger back at a beater, stupid magic. The beater was currently nursing a black eye. All in all it was a good game; nobody got the snitch though which was kind of sad. There weren't many pure bloods taking the gym, just a few. Maybe the muggle borns just didn't know how too fly well, tragic really.

At supper Hermione kept asking him about the guardianship thing, but he had no answer for her. They hadn't talked about it yet. "Something came up. We're gunna figure it out later, I think."

"Well, what happened Darian?" Hermione asked. She put down her fork and took his left hand in her right and squeezed gently. The blood rushed to his head and quite a few things on the table broke. The nearby potatoes were sent flying across the Great Hall but he bowl they were in was fine. Water goblets fell over spilling all over peoples food and the ketchup exploded, the biggest mess of all, covering those near it with red. Luckily Hermione took the blow of that one for me.

**_Merlin's unmentionables! _**Harry took a shaky deep breath hoping that it would help. So the question was, was that spontaneous stuff or accidental, sprang on by a surge of emotion. If it was the latter then what emotion? Ow, another headache. He could hear the students laughing, hell if he wasn't responsible he would have joined them! Rubbing his head in frustration he glanced up at the staff table where Moony was laughing enormously and Dumbledore was standing, about to say something.

"Sorry everyone at the Gryffindor table, there has been an accident in the kitchens, nothing to worry about. It will be taken care of immediately." Dumbledore then proceeded to summon some of the elves to clean up those whom my disaster had hit worst.

Wincing slightly Darian turned back to Hermione to examine the damage only to find she wasn't there. She had lined up with those in need of a clean up. Looking himself over he decided he was fine, just a bit of broccoli had landed on the shirt. Looking back the staff table Remus was pointing at his head subtly and looking straight at me. Confused I put my hand to my own head and felt my hair which was still pretty short. On top I felt more food and hastily brushed it off. Somehow I had gotten carrots in my hair as well, and some were even partially chewed. Sputtering in disgust I glared at Remus who was enjoying this all too much, must be the marauder in him. Now he was rolling in his seat laughing uncontrollably while all the other teachers were trying to get everything back in order.

Later that night Hermione helped him with his homework in transfiguration, all he needed was to figure out how to pronounce the damned spell right. She was giggly and even happy with him; he had expected her to be a bit down still. Either he was just that charming or something wasn't right, she was supposed to miss him! _I must be real charming then_ he decided.

The week dragged by for Darian, understand that it is hard to lie to your friends all the time! Hermione hadn't changed, still giggly and sometimes touching his hand, these instances always resulted in something being blown sky high. He had decided though that he definitely didn't think of Hermione as a girlfriend figure, just a friend. Maybe Parvati or one of the other girls he'd met recently but with 'Mione it'd be just weird. HE still hadn't opened the things Sirius left for him. HE knew it would be a sad experience and was procrastinating.

Halfway through doing some wandless magic practice alone in his dorm he heard Remus call him from the mirror in his cloak.

Taking it out he looked at Remus who said "Come to Dumbledore's office please Darian. The password is canary creams. We need to talk about a few things."

"You know, that's really not the best way to start a conversation uncle. 'We need to talk.' Really." Harry replied cheekily. Upon seeing Remus _I am not amused_ look he added "Fine, I'm going. Tell him he is interrupting my education for this chat though!"

Harry grudgingly lowered the books he was levitating and made his way to Dumbledore's office.

Harry stood just outside Dumbledore's office in front of the stone gargoyle trying to remember the password. He hadn't actually been listening to Moony right then... "Canary Creams!" he said to the gargoyle. For some reason it just came to him. Just when he got to the stairs within he heard a good loud crash and upon looking back, saw that the nearby paintings had fallen off the wall. He wandlessly lifted them each back up properly and just in time as the stairs started revolving, taking him to the office._ Ouch, that was close. _

Once in the office he was politely greeted by Dumbledore and got a bouncy wave from Remus, which reminded him of Sirius. He didn't know either man very well, but he was sure they were much alike in these small ways. He took the empty seat next to Moony and again tried to appear mature. Not an easy task whatsoever.

Wanting to start the sconversation himself Harry asked "Why do you want me to keep this necklace on? Even Mad-Eye couldn't get the damn thing off me."

"Ah, I knew you'd ask that. It's rather ingenious really. It's for your safety. I placed a locator on it, if I ever need to find you the necklace will help me do that. It is also a portkey to a coffee shop just outside of Diagon Alley in muggle London. If the castle were attacked you could be easily brought to safety. To activate it all you need to do it tap it three times with your wand and say "pink lilies". That is not what I want to talk to you about however. I've requested your presence for several reasons Darian. The first of which being your growing magic. There have been several instances already where you've displaced immense amounts of power, do you have no control over it?"

"Well, no, not really no." Harry said simply, fingering the necklace chain.

"Mad-Eye informed me that you were practicing wandless magic. Is this true?"

"Hey, this isn't an interrogation! Yes, I have but if you want an interview ask for one instead of this bloody language dance!" Here Harry failed to note that again, magic was cracking in the air.

"Harry-!" Remus started, but was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Alright. I have to say, I thought your temper would have cooled down a bit over the summer."

"A bit? Had help with that didn't I? What can't give me drugs here?" Finally realizing that several things in the office were about to break Darian sat back down, not sure when he had stood up.

"I have ordered that you be taken off them, but it is magic and will take time, smaller dosages every day. This may lead to more nightmares and visions, but I have sealed off your bed, no one will hear you in your sleep. It's unfortunate, but we can't have you on them forever."

"Unfortunate? _Unfortunate_!" Harry exclaimed loudly, his voice squeaking and was regardless entirely ignored by Dumbledore.

"About your magic though, I have a few solutions to this problem." Dumbledore indicated the nearby globe that had just stopped spinning. "We could hand you a device that would cancel out your magic completely and you could take it off in class. This is not the best solution as it limits your abilities to protect yourself. The other is much more challenging on your part. I would ask you to exert yourself both physically and magically. Maybe Professor Lupin could exercise with you in some way and supervise while you practice wandless magic, wandless because it is more draining. The idea is to tire you out so much throughout the day that you don't have the energy to do something unintentionally."

Moony and Harry sat staring at Dumbledore for a moment, then Remus broke the silence. "Albus, that would require too much work on his part, he can't work that hard just to prevent knocking over a chair or a shelf! Not to mention that I am a teacher with classes to teach!"

"I concur!" Darian said. He had heard Hermione use the word somewhere before and figured it fit there.

Dumbledore didn't look pleased with Harry's attempt to bait him. "I'll work out a schedule that suits the both of you. On a more pleasant note, you may try out for the Quidditch team, a few students know how well you can fly and that can't be helped.

"I may!" He repeated.

"Yes." Dumbledore said ignoring Harry's tone of disbelief. "However I feel that you have been getting to close to a young Miss Hermione Granger, I fear she may guess your identity. You will have to stay away from her from now on and-"

"No! I won't do it! She's my friend!" Harry protested.

"As is Mr. Weasley, who you have had very little interaction with."

Harry was shouting now. "Interaction? Never mind, I will hang out with whoever I bloody well want to! Where do you get off telling me what to do?"

"I assumed it was the safer course of action considering what happened last year!" Dumbledore retorted before he was knocked sideways from his chair onto the floor and the shelves fell from behind him. All the sudden the room was a prime example of why we don't piss off Harry Potter.


	13. The Flaming Broomstick

The Flaming Broomstick

Harry stood shaking slightly from anger but mostly from the desire not to sneeze. You see it's only logical that the wind had thrown around quite a bit of dust. Remus had no problem with hacking up a good coughing fit, maybe because of his werewolf nose and yelling "Darian?" A moment later he felt Remus's hand touch his back and ease past him.

"Albus? Are you alright?" Moony asked in the general direction of the Headmasters desk. They simply assumed the old wizard was crouching behind, presumably with his hands protecting his head and shivering in a very feeble way.

This was not the case as Dumbledore stood up, shaking off some lingering dust from his robes. "I'm fine." He said.

"Don't talk about Sirius. He's a good man!" Darian said. In all honesty he was slightly disappointed Dumbledore hadn't broken a finger nail or something.

"Was a good man my boy, _was_. And he would want you to be keeping a low profile, he was a master at hiding himself." Dumbledore glanced about the room impassively and reflected dryly "I see you've managed to destroy my office once again. Can you not see you are a danger to those around you? What will you do one day when your friends become particularly annoying and you really hurt someone? Miss Granger could blow your cover, we cannot let that happen. I am asking you to stay away from her; I won't allow her to be a danger to the world, nor your carelessness just because you miss your friend. Undoubtedly, there are many people in this school who would pay to be your friend. Would you like a lemon drop?"

This was obviously not the right thing to say, as the room was beginning to get a bit breezy again. Remus said, glaring at Dumbledore, "Let Darian be with his friends, she wouldn't tell anyone anyway. I thought we were going to explain the Everson's to him, familiarize him with his supposed past?"

With a wave the chairs righted and they sat down again. A few spells from Dumbledore's wand and the room had proper lighting once more. House elves would probably have to fix the rest.

"Right." Apparently Remus was going to explain about the Everson's, after all they were Remus's relatives. "Your 'mom' was a medi-witch and your father didn't have a job or profession of any kind. They were quite rich as they were both pureblooded. Despite their wealth, they never shared it with anyone, never gave me a knut and generally weren't very nice people. Here's a not so nice picture of them."

Remus handed him the picture. Like he said, it wasn't very nice. The husband and wife appeared to be arguing. Harry took a good look at it, memorized their appearance and pushed it to the back of his mind as it wasn't a sight anyone would want to dwell on.

_Hard on the eyes really, _is what Harry thought before handing it back to Moony. He half expected Remus to jump up and yell; "It's a miracle! Not even a scratch!" as he had been rather destructive lately.

Instead Moony said "in truth they never had any children, but lucky for us that is not exactly common knowledge. They didn't have many relatives at all. Anybody able to inherit money from their deaths mysteriously went missing or was murdered under suspicious circumstances, say over dinner at their house?"

"Wow" Was all Harry could say. Dumbledore nodded his agreement. "So who gets all their money?"

"Not us that's for sure, probably the government. Hey don't make that face!" Harry had snarled slightly. What on earth would Fudge spend it on?

"You mentioned to me once that you told Ronald that you moved a lot, I guess going from the cupboard to the smallest bedroom doesn't count though. Anyway you weren't wrong, they did move often. That's how extremely picky those gits were, no matter where they went soon enough they got bored and had to move again. You'd think one beautiful home would be enough but nooooo, they wasted their fortune selling and buying new ones." Remus continued to grumble like this to himself for a while.

Rather bored but still testy Harry asked Dumbledore "Anything else?"

Dumbledore considered him some more then asked "what curses do you know?"

"I don't have enough paper to list 'em for you." Harry replied.

"Good, good..."

_I should have listened to Percy, he told me Dumbledore was off his rocker, _Harry thought to himself.

"We'll be starting on curses and hexes now in defense class and we want to use ones that you don't already know, that way it won't hint to Hermione who you are. You are well known for your skills in defense. Besides, it's you who really needs to learn to watch your back." Remus smiled then said "You always get yourself into trouble, famous or not."

"Oh thaaaanks Moony." Harry said, not quite smiling himself yet.

"Let's see what spells you know then Remus will know what to teach you."

Standing up Harry had to ask "Err, whose gunna be the guinea pig sir?"

In response Dumbledore conjured up a dummy. (Ron? Nope, darn it.) Harry cast a spell then did the counter curse. This worked fine for a while, but some of the curses he knew just wouldn't work on a dummy, they were for live people! Like pain spells or jinxes cast just to impair the person, or break a bone. They just weren't going to work on a fake. The Headmaster had to take his word on his ability to do those.

"Amazing boy! That's a lot of spells. When did you learn this?" Dumbledore asked. He had been calling him boy for some reason and he felt like a 2-year-old. Dumbledore probably just didn't want to call him Darian and wasn't supposed to call him Harry. Heretofore, boy.

"I dunno, just over the years I guess. And I picked up a bunch from Mad-Eye." Harry said.

"Yes, Mad-Eye informed me of you progress in dueling. He seemed impressed." Dumbledore said.

"Ya right. He just wanted to flatten me. Anything else we have to talk about?" Harry asked, tired of Dumbledore.

"I should tell you that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley are restarting your Defence Association in a month or so. You can participate but you still cannot teach it, nor can you use your patronus. One last thing, how did you manage to overcome the silence charm? It really shouldn't be possible. With your permission I would like to cast it upon you and see how you do it."

Growling slightly Harry replied "Later maybe. I told you it's hard on the throat and quite frankly I just don't want to be gargling salt all night." At their blank looks he added "It's a muggle remedy."

"I'll stick to Poppy's thank you! Yes, you may go. But I want the two of you to work out some schedule. We need to get you magic under control my boy."

About 2 weeks later Harry was heading to Gryffindor Tower with Dean, Seamus and Neville having just left Astronomy class. He was using the time turner for homework purposes. He actually had another self in the boys dormitory currently doing his charms work.

Dean told him that Quidditch tryouts were on Saturday morning and asked if he was trying out. He said that he was and for the seeker spot. They all seemed surprised at this. "What?" he asked irritated.

"Well, I have never actually seen you play seeker (he'd played beater and chaser all summer) but I can tell you that the seeker is going to Ginny Weasley. Not only is she gorgeous and the kindest witch around, but she's also pretty good and it helps that she's Ron's little sister" Dean said.

Would Ron really do that? Harry knew he could do laps around Ginny but if Ron was giving it to Ginny because they were related... And Ron hadn't been especially friendly. They got along well enough now but Ron wasn't his best friend anymore. He had sort of fallen away from him, but different from in Fourth year. Now he just sort of had well, a lot of friends. Just a lot.

That night Harry had the boy's dorm to himself. Letting his snitch fly around the room he locked the door and took out the chest Sirius had left him. Steadying his breath he gently lifted off the lid. A small explosion was triggered in which confetti flew up into his face, startling him. Had Sirius ever actually pranked him before? Shaking confetti out of his hair (which he really should cut soon as it was getting messy) he began rooting through it. There was actually more in the chest than should have fit, no law of physics there.

The first things he found were wizard robes. They looked expensive, they were made of the best materials he was sure and some had spells on them. One changed colours and another had a picture of a dragon which kept moving around the robe. He took off his school robe and shuddering at his memory of the horn tail donned the dragon styled robe. This robe didn't have a hood like most of the ones he had seen and it was a bit big for him as Sirius was a pretty tall guy. Sad he folded up the others and put them to the side.

Next he found a letter from Sirius himself that made him cry and laugh at the same time. In that letter Sirius told him about everything that he had left him, how much money was left to him and what all the things he left him were actually for. Sirius had left him a fortune, even though it was split among people. Apparently most of the clothes went to Remus who-quote "needed style almost as badly as Harry himself did".

Sirius left him a journal the marauders had kept in school where they wrote down all the pranks they had pulled and how they did it, many of which were played on a certain potions professor. There were also notes on how to become animagus, which he would look into probably sometime over the summer. It was hard work and took years! He was rather busy already.

He was also given a set of car keys and biking gloves. Sirius had another letter with them that explained that Harry had inherited Sirius's motorbike. He was to keep the keys for later when he could learn to ride it and the gloves would keep his hands warm if it was windy. They looked like normal mountain biking gloves and non to warm but hey they were probably magical.

The next items were "questionable". Sirius had left him what appeared to be lock picks for any door of any size, climbing equipment for who knows what and a list of spells and their uses. For example _kolourous blue _was a spell to change your hair blue or red or black, what ever you said after the incantation.

Generally his Godfather had left him a load of stuff, useful stuff mind.

Saturday came up quickly. As usual he woke before everyone else. He ate a light breakfast in preparation for the upcoming Quidditch practice and,having met up with Ron and Dean, headed to the change rooms. Halfway there he met up with Hermione who pulled him to the side of the hall for a "pep talk". She looked very nervous and couldn't make eye contact with him.

Eye's cast at the floor she asked quietly "would you like to go to Hogsmeade? With me... next weekend...like on a date?"

"Wh what!" Harry was flabbergasted. She sure never expressed an interest like this last year! _I heard her wrong_ he thought desperately.

"Do you want to go out with me?" Hermione said this very fast.

"Errrr, I can't!" Harry answered. His heart was going a hundred miles per hour, what was he supposed to say? _bloody hell she's starting to cry! Think think think..._ "I already have a girl friend!" he said.

"You don't have to lie to get rid of me! I just like you and didn't know how you felt!" Her voice was high pitch and loud.

As she turned to leave and the voices around him rose he was attempting to salvage the situation. In a last ditch attempt to do something he glanced around him quick and pulled a nearby girl to his side. "I'm going out with Lavender." Hermione turned and took one look at the girl next to him before turning a brighter shade of pink and amongst the giggles and laughter fled the hall.

He heard a few voices ask curiously "when did that happen" before he was turned around and held in a tight hug by Lavender Brown, his new girlfriend.

He vaguely heard Dean tell him he'd meet him later on the field as Lavender continued to squeeze out any remaining air in his lungs. "Darian, I knew you liked me! But, you never asked me out."

"Yeah um, can we talk for a minute?" Harry asked.

After a short explanation that was rather close to the entire truth Lavender was somewhat less confused. All in all that girl didn't really care a whole lot why he suddenly pronounced her his girlfriend. She was caught up in the moment perhaps? Or just dumb. In any case their conversation soon turned into something similar to this:

"I know what you're going through. Believe me it happens to loads of peoples."

"What, really?"

"Yeah, you're just shy. I wouldn't have thought you were that type but you just couldn't ask a girl out because of it." Completely unaware of his confusion she closed the gap between them. Lavender took his right hand and played with his hand in hers_. Wow that feels good._ Suffice it to say this distracted him sufficiently enough to stop him from correcting her. He didn't have much experience with girls at all.

"You're trying out for seeker right? H- Harry had that position, Ron won't be giving it out easy. You'll need some luck." She smiled brightly at him and brought her lips to his.

"Wow Darian what did you two do? Never mind, I don't want to know." Dean said with a laugh. He for one was very good-natured about the turn of events. Harry had almost been late for tryouts.

Thinking back to it he was sure there were moments that he was missing. He didn't know Lavender was such a good kisser! He was all smiles now and Hermione's feelings would have to wait until later. One thing was for sure; with the kiss Lavender gave him he now had _a lot_ of luck.

The captain, Ron, called for everyone's attention. "Alright. Ummmm, you 20 odd people are all here for the same reason. You want on the Quidditch team, right? The only way to do that is to prove to me that you deserve a spot more than the rest. I'll be watching for er, talent, sportsmanship and your general ability to, you know, fly. Please if you can't fly leave, er now." At the last statement surprisingly a few people actually did so.

"Yaaa... Thank you! Now we are all cramped in the boys change room because I don't want to risk the girls, it's cold outside and the rest of the castle is a free space. Errr, I'm gunna explain a few rules of the game then we'll get to the try outs!"

No jewelry was to be worn so Harry had to make his time turner and necklace both invisible. He had left the mirror and his newer wand in the dormitory on purpose as he really, really didn't want either to break. In an emergency he still had his original wand safe in its holster and his daggers. The Death Eater alert one turned out to be more of a hindrance than anything. He actually got frostbite from it just the other day in potions class. Which is to say, there were a few new Death Eater recruits in Slytherin.

All who were trying out for seeker had to wait a long time as they were last. While he waited he observed the others trying out. There were 7 of them. These included him, Ginny and a bunch of younger students he didn't know. A few of them were probably too big to do a good job and Ginny was always a bit hesitant. Before she had wanted to be a chaser, maybe it had something to do with that. A few of the kids looked like they had potential.

Finally it was their turn. Ron set up a bunch of hoops and explained what they were doing. "Okay! Obviously only Ginny will be able to do this well as she was the seeker last year, but you all get to try anyways. You have to get through all the hoops in whatever order you want to grab the floating muggle folgball!"

"Golf ball" one kid corrected him.

Ron glared at him then said, "This is a timed event. Best score wins." Pointing to the kid he snarled "You get to go first."

Said boy didn't have a problem with this as he smiled big and mounted his broom. He was actually very good, an equal to Ginny at any rate. Some of the attempts were just sad, some actually got the golf ball but it took them forever. Even those kept having to turn around and attempt to go through a hoop or two over and over because they missed it. Ginny got the best score, then it was his turn.

Confident he mounted his broom and kicked off. The course was pretty simple, he had to pull off loop de loops and a couple sharp turns to get the fastest time possible. Pulling out of a long dive he whistled past the floating golfball and touched back down. Satisfied he presented the golfball to Ron who stopped the time.

"You got lucky. Almost hit the ground even!" Ron stated.

"Whatever, what was my time?" Harry pressed. He knew he had gotten the best and at least halved Ginny record.

Grumbling slightly Ron said "three minutes twenty seconds." That was sooo definitely the best time.

Next the top three times got to do another drill, while the others were thanked for trying out and asked to leave. They did so and some went to sit in the stands. Harry's eye searched the stands to see who was watching and he spotted Remus, Dumbledore McGonagall, a few Gryffindors including Lavender and her friends and Hermione. He also saw Rita Skeeter! She was siting next to some adult he didn't know, probably some poor soul she was interviewing. She had written everything about Harry Potter's death, including the funeral. He'd gotten the papers from Remus. She gave him a positive appearance even!

"Darian? Darian!" Ron was yelling to get his attention. "About time mate. I will release this snitch and the first one to get it is Gryffindor's new seeker. Got it?" He, Ginny and the boy who corrected Ron nodded or otherwise indicated in the affirmative. They mounted their brooms, Ron released the snitch and they kicked off.

Harry circled high above like a hawk searching for the tiny glint of gold. Ginny was doing a wider circle below and he had no idea what the younger boy was doing. This high he could see the entire field and the surrounding area, it was only a matter of time until he saw it. The younger boy found it first and took a grab for it, missed and they continued searching. A flash caught his eye by the stands but disappointed he saw it was only a camera, then another to the right of the stand. It was the snitch! He immediately shot for it, he was going to get it. Ginny and the boy were on the other side of the field.

He was just above the stands when his broom tail caught fire and banked. His hand was still outstretched towards the golden ball as he tilted backwards. He was going down, he instinctively grabbed the ledge with his hand, which stopped his fall. His arm immediately rejected his sudden weight against gravity and gave out with a pop. He screamed in pain as he fell only to be caught a second later around the middle and dragged into the stands by someone, right then he didn't care who.

"You're going to be alright. Here, look at me." Harry refused to do so and grunting through the pain pulled a dagger from his boot his spare hand, incidentally his left hand. The stranger made a cry something like "Ahhhh, he's nuts!" and backed away. Harry carefully pulled back his shirt and made a smallish cut on his shoulder. It seared with the additional pain for a moment then faded. His shoulder was going numb; he couldn't feel the pain. He had gotten a look at his shoulder though, it wasn't right. Breathing hard he put the dagger back in his boot.

"Riiiiight, You're going to be fine. Look here, here!" Harry was vaguely aware of someone rubbing his back in a reassuring way and rough hands forced his face up. His eyes fell on someone he'd never seen before and he panicked. He tried to move away but the man spoke again "I'm trained; I can fix your arm a bit. Stop moving!" Harry did so but only because he was surprised by the man's forceful and commanding bossiness. He hadn't digested that the man was going to fix his arm. The man eased the robe off his shoulder and used some spell to cut his shirt. "Can you do me a favour? Look at this fine woman for me?" Harry turned to see who he was talking about. His eyes fell on Rita Skeeter and his arm unexpectedly filled with a sharp pain. "Fuck!" He exclaimed both in pain and shock. Rita would have a field day.

"Okay up you get." The man held him up by throwing his good arm over his shoulder and heaving slowly up, bringing Harry to his feet. "Think you can walk?" The man asked. Harry considered himself for a moment then took a step forward. A forever later the man was leading him to the hospital wing. The man asked him many questions all the way, probably to keep him talking and from going into shock or something. Not likely with all the things he'd been through. The pain in his arm ceased altogether and Harry calmed down.

"So Darian" apparently he'd already told him his name. "You sure know how to pick enemies eh?"

"Wha?" he asked, what was this guy talking about?

"Well, most people wouldn't set a broom on fire, he could have killed you"

"So I'm _not _dead" Harry replied thickly. The man only laughed and Remus, Dumbledore and the others caught up.

After that it was all a lot of talking and arguing. Harry tuned them out, they were giving him a stinging head ache. In no time they were in the hospital wing where Madame Pomphrey took over. She didn't have much to do, she just put his arm in a sling congratulated the man who put his shoulder back in place on a good job and forced Harry to down some potions. As it turns out he had dislocated it when he grabbed the ledge on the top of the stands to keep from falling. Supposedly he was lucky he was so close to the stands when his broom caught fire.

"So, what happened?" He asked. He was sitting on the side of a bed waiting for the nurse to tell him he could leave. She was currently waiting herself for her patient to regain feeling in his shoulder. It was still numb from the cut he made.

"You're not going to want to hear this." Remus said sadly.

"Spit it out uncle!" he said impatiently. He added uncle in for the benefit of the others in the room like Rita, the guy that fixed his arm, Hermione and Lavender. His girlfriend was on his left holding his good hand. Everyone else was asked to wait outside.

Sighing Moony explained "Ron cursed your broom. He shot fire at you! You're lucky he only hit the broom."

"Why would he do that?"

"We haven't asked him yet but I think we can guess. He wanted Ginny to get the snitch. She got it right after you went down, you would have had it for sure. Ronald is saying that Ginny got it fair and square so she got the position."

"There's no way Ron would do that!" Harry said, but inside he was wondering. Ron might have, he really might. Lavender squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"So you know this mentally challenged boy well?" A sweet voice asked from the door.

"Skeeter?" He asked fearing the answer.

"Oh so you know me. Perfect! So can I get a statement, it's Darian Everson with two A's right?" The reporter had entered the room and was eagerly scribbling on her paper. "And the werewolf is you uncle?" she asked happily.

"Out, out, out you slanderous wench! Can't you see you're upsetting my patient! Out!" Madame Pomphrey said ushering Skeeter out. The cabinets had started shaking, probably because of Skeeter but it could have been just a coincidence.

Soon after he was permitted to leave the hospital wing. (Lavender was still holding his hand.) Hermione gave him the oddest look and hurried off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower, or the Library. Ron was led off by Dumbledore and McGonagall to get punished somehow. The man caught up with him and asked if they could "talk". He grudgingly promised to meet Lavender for lunch and followed the strange guy.

"I guess you're wondering who I am. My name's Mr. Minolta, I'm a talent scout. I came to the tryouts to see if there was anyone promising," he said.

Harry was too shocked to say anything, he didn't mean what he thought he meant, did he?

"You would have had that snitch if that boy hadn't stopped you, and from what I saw you're the fastest seeker since... a long time!" Mr. Minolta exclaimed.

"Sir?"

"Damn lucky he didn't let you on the team, if I leak a word or two about this people will be begging to see you fly. I could get you on the Cannons or the Tornados, depending on who'll pay you more, unless you have a preference."

"Mr. Minolta? Can I do that? I mean, I'm still in school." he asked. Surely he wasn't this lucky?

Mr. Minolta only smiled and replied "Isn't Krum still in school? We'll figure something out. You do want to play don't you? And get paid?"

"Hell yeah!" Harry said loudly.

"Well then, I want to fit you on a team but right now I need to find one that's open for you. Here's my card if you need anything. I'll find out what I can then we'll talk with the Headmaster about practices. Don't tell anyone about this though, except your parents. Certain teams like to surprise their opponents. Any questions?"

"Er, is it safe to play Quidditch with all the Death Eater activity? And how long will it take you to find a team? And can the Headmaster keep me from playing? And-"

"Hey hey! Give me a second. We have higher security now than at the world cup games and we played throughout the last war. Those criminals aren't after Quidditch players."

"Hmmmm, normally it would take me longer but now only about a week or so. Lot's of muggle born players quit over the summer and no, only your parents can keep you from playing, and only until you're of legal age." Mr. Minolta glanced at his watch, yelled "bloody hell!" real loud and ran out of sight. Apparently he was late for something.


	14. Changes

Changes

Harry told Remus about Mr. Minolta and his new chance to play on a real Quidditch team. Moony had of course been uber happy. Harry hadn't seen Hermione at all throughout the rest of the day and he found that he wasn't worried, she always disappeared like that. Besides, he had Lavender with him for most of the day and he found that he liked her much better now. She was good at kissing. Hehehe.

After he was done writing in the god-forsaken diary he slept. A good plan that, generally speaking. His dreams of cheering Quidditch fans didn't last long though.

Hermione's POV

"He's alive." Hermione had figured it out, Darian was Harry. _He has to be, that was Harry's style of flying today, everything adds up!_ Although she had to observe that his flying was even better than last years. It all made sense now, and she had asked him out! She would never have asked Harry out! The embarrassment! They were friends! What would she do! How should she approach him about it? More importantly, why hadn't he told her he was flippin alive! Would have been the _least _he could do. Or even Remus his "uncle" who was surely in on the whole secret.

Hermione was sitting on the couch unable to sleep when her amazingly intellectual thoughts were interrupted rudely by a troublesome noise in the direction of Harry Potter's dorm room. In a mad panic she threw herself off the couch and up the stairs. To her horror the sound that greeted her ears was a very familiar one, the sound of Harry screaming in pain. She flung the door open and joined the crowd of boys surrounding Darian Everson's bed.

They were all arguing and appeared to be very angry. You couldn't hear a single voice over Harry's screams though. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw Ron grab his wand off his bedside table and lash it at the surrounding boys. In an instant the crowd was forcibly parted and Ron charged the bed. Ron flung himself at the bed and side tackled Harry off it and they landed hard on the floor.

Ron landed on top of Harry, who had apparently just been forcibly woken up and pulled back his fist to punch him. Now she understood why all the boys had looked so upset, they all thought Darian was making fun of Harry Potter, pretending to have a fit, while he was actually in a real situation.

One has to note here that Harry Potter is a wizard with some serious power. Her eyes went wide as Ron threw his fist down on Harry and connected with a crunch against a barrier that suddenly appeared in front of the intended boy's face. Ron sat back and cradled his hand. During Ron's moment of vulnerability Harry flicked his hand and his wand was suddenly there, the one he had in previous years. It is probably relevant to add that it was shockingly fast trained on Ron and with a weird wand movement Ron was flung across the room. It has now been proven that Ronald Weasley is in no way an acrobat of any kind.

For a very brief moment in which Ron was in mid air Darian sat panting and the other boys were staring at Ron, Hermione got a good look at his eyes. His famed and extremely attractive GREEN eyes. Despite Ron's current status on the other side of the room supposedly having his head connect in a negative way with the opposite wall, she couldn't help but smile. It was real. Her best friend was alive!

Attention was sent to the door that was now occupying a, there were no other words for it, freaking out Professor Lupin whom immediately rushed to Harry's side. Or to everyone else, his 'nephews' side. He hastily cast a spell over Harry's face much to the panicking boy's displeasure and at a glance she saw that his eyes were once again blue. "Are you alright? How many fingers am I holding up? Where are your pajamas" Professor Lupin asked Harry who was still on the floor breathing heavily and sitting in his boxers.

"Three, Moony we need to see Dumbledore NOW! We can worry about this later." He said indicating the collection of students in the room and crowding the door to get a better look. He was in no way calm, as he looked nauseated and was shaking severely, trying to shove Professor Lupin out of his way, presumably so he could see the Headmaster.

"But where are you pajamas? Never mind, Dumbledore can wait. We need to find you some paj-" Remus was silent as Hermione froze everyone else in the room with Ron's wand which she picked up off the floor.

"I'll take him there, it'll only hold for a few minutes Professor!" She knew what the emergency was, clearly Harry had a vision and that was a good pointer to his identity, she assumed that was supposed to be a secret.

"Hermione, wait, you know?" Her teacher was obviously confused. He was busy trying to keep a struggling 16-year-old pinned securely to the floor and keep up with the crisis. Not to mention that he just couldn't process that Harry _was_ in his pajamas.

"Yes, and I'll take him to the Headmaster while you sort this out." She pointed to the motionless people. "Oh and Ron is hurt." at Professor Lupin's worried look she added, "I won't tell anyone it's him I swear it!"

With a sigh Professor Lupin said above Harry's frustrated swearing "Okay, take this with you, and don't be seen." He tossed her the Marauders map and lifted himself off the floor, giving Harry a lift up and grabbing a pair of jeans and a shirt as he went. Addressing Harry who suddenly got a dizzy spell and threw up Professor Lupin said "After you talk to Dumbledore ask for Mme. Pomphrey. She knows about you. It's like Albus knew something like this would happen.

Professor Lupin refroze everybody as she dragged Harry and the clothes out of the room and made it into the hallway. She could only assume that Remus was thinking that Harry might want some clothes later. She knew that some boys slept in boxers, hell she would if she was a guy. She herself hated getting tangled in pajamas and covers.

It was the most awkward walk she'd ever had in Harry's presence. He ran down the hallways and ignored her the whole time, you'd think he'd want to talk about it, or at least explain what was going on! She had tried demanding outright to know what he was thinking, but that only resulted in Harry running faster. She suspected that he was trying to make her out of breath so she'd be less talkative. In short, he succeeded. As they charged past things in the hall they fell over or shook and Harry ignored this too, every so often rolling his eyes in frustration. That shouldn't happen, that never used to happen around him. Sometimes when she had still thought he was Darian it did though, like in the Great Hall! She _knew_ that wasn't the house elves that chucked food!

They reached the stone gargoyle, Harry rattled off a few passwords before getting the right one, and charged into the Headmaster's office leaving her to follow nervously behind.

Harry's POV

"Dumbledore! Wake up! We have to get people to Surrey fast! Hey!" It was probably about three o'clock in the morning so he'd have to wake the Headmaster up. But where was the bed chamber? Damn it.

"What's going on?" Dumbledore asked from around the corner. That man was definitely not up yet. Surrey, duh it has to be Potter again right! Who else would wake a guy up at three am? Dumbledore came into view and stood in front of him.

"I had a vision again. It has to be real; Voldemort doesn't know I'm alive! Send people to Privet drive! Ple- ase!"

"What did you see?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"The Death Eaters are bored with trashing Diagon Alley. Tonight they're going to destroy Privet Drive _just_ to throw you off. They plan on hitting the Ministry soon. I don't know how they'll do it or when. OKAY?"

"How many is he sending?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry had to count for a moment then answered "About a dozen of his lower class. But he isn't sending them. They begged to go."

Dumbledore frowned and went to the fireplace. He sprinkled in some powder and spoke "Arthur Weasley? Send a team to Surrey, Privet drive fast."

He didn't hear what else was said. He was getting a bad feeling in his stomach as his panic started to wear out. In all honesty he wasn't too worried over the danger his family and neighbors were in. He didn't especially like those people, but letting Voldemort and his cronies do what they want just didn't sit well with him for anything. Or maybe it was just the after effects of the crucio curse setting in. Voldemort hadn't been the kindest to his victims in that vision.

Still feeling overall crappy and panicky at the same time Harry sat in a chair offered by the Headmaster and tapped his feet nervously, all he could do was wait to see if The Order made it in time. Dumbledore turned and sat at his desk and seemingly finally noticed Hermione standing by the door. With a raised eyebrow he waved that Hermione sit in a chair too, which she did. "Hermione, I am going to ask that you sit quiet for a while. Now, Dar-i-an, what happened?" Dumbledore asked through a yawn. You'd think the situation would have sufficiently woken him up, but no. Harry went in depth about the vision. It didn't sound good, a lot of crucio spells were cast on the Deatheaters for one thing or another, which was probably why Harry had been screaming so much. He explained that Hermione had figured him out somehow and had escorted him to the office.

Dumbledore sat in silence after the replay of events, perhaps thinking, perhaps sleeping. He was old after all and it was early.

"Where's the boy Albus?" A feminine voice asked from the door. Turning around Harry spotted Mme. Pomphrey. Locking her eyes on her patient the nurse tutted and turned his chair around. Hermione was asked to talk with the Headmaster privately and they crossed to the other side of the room. "Lupin let you run all the way here? Worsening my patients, didn't do a thing for you, should have sent you straight to me. You've got a cold sweat Potter, drink this. No, all of it, honestly why do you always expect pumpkin juice?" She asked the latter as he had sprayed the potion halfway across the room. Man that was gross. Remus charged in to the office about then and ran to Harry's side.

"How you doin' kiddo?" He asked concerned.

"Been better." He replied truthfully.

"All witnesses memories have been modified Albus. Now they believe they saw Darian have a fight with Ronald because Ron was snoring too loud. Everyone's happy, although Harry you look to be an insensitive bastard now. Sorry! I couldn't think of anything better at the time."

"Er, how did you know what was going on?" Harry asked. He was getting tired.

'The mirror", he said simply. "Your screaming woke me up. Er, you alright? Harry!"

Said boy had just fell dumb asleep and fell right off the chair into the nurses prepared arms. Remus discovered later that Mme. Pomphrey gave him a dreamless sleep potion, she knew her patient well enough to know he wouldn't get the necessary sleep if she didn't.

Harry woke the next day in time for lunch, food which he flat out refused to eat. The nurse administered one last checkup and released him from the hospital wing. He missed his first class and went to Dumbledore's office telling himself he wanted to marauders map back. He hadn't seen it in a long while, unless last night counted. Which it didn't.

Leaving the office later Harry could only be confused. Dumbledore hadn't erased Hermione's memory; he said she would cover him when stuff spontaneously exploded. He also said the that Harry wasn't going to have to add anything to his diary from last night as long as he went around the castle and fixed everything he had broken or knocked over which was quite a lot of stuff. No doubt Filch was aghast when he got up that morning.

Later that day he met up with Hermione who burst into tears and was generally just happy to have him back. Of course, that was after she slapped him in the face.

Unfortunately for anything breakable Harry discovered after supper that Dumbledore hadn't sent any team to Privet Drive, everyone there was slaughtered, including the Dursleys. Luckily Mrs. Figg had been in Diagon Alley and was fine. Needless to say, Harry was pissed. Remus had taken him to his office to tell him, very unwise. Harry left the room in a disaster and a miffed Remus standing alone, wondering how to fix his office. Harry visited Dumbledore's office and had a bit of a fit. Not overly sad about his now dead relatives he was more pissed that the Death Eaters had gotten away with it. Having once again trashed Dumbledore's office (this time without breaking a sweat, magic simply did it for him. Much more efficiently too) he went outside for a ride on his Nimbus 2001.

Let this be a lesson, Darian can and will do some damage. He himself learned something, the Daily Prophet was not reporting on the Death Eater attacks, perhaps in an attempt to keep people from panicking. Or, more likely, Voldemort had some control over the press. Why he wanted to keep his activities quiet he didn't know, you'd think his sadistic mind would want mass panic, but no.

Everything returned to normal, but his dorm mates had been very cold for a few days. Ron had to laugh it off. It was funny, he really did snore loud. They seemed to be on better terms.

The following weekend Darian was asked to go to Dumbledore's office. Being that it was a weekend he was wearing normal clothes, even if they were of muggle fashion. This always confused Malfoy who knew he was a pure blood; he assumed that he only wore wizarding clothing. So yes, Malfoy was still following him, something Harry only put up with because he helped him in potions. Snape didn't like Gryffindors period and marked hard, but Harry was better than he used to be.

Before he left for the office he finished his talk with Malfoy and shook his hand before parting. It wasn't like he was trying to be particularly friendly, other end of the pole in fact. He easily slipped his free hand to Malfoy's waist and with dagger in hand, cut the boys money pouch from him. A considerable weight fell into his hand which he pocketed and walked away sending a cheerful wave over his head. He'd done this countless times to the prick, and other unwary students. Sometimes he couldn't help it.

Forge and Gred had certainly wrought a change in him. Before Sirius's death he would never have even considered the twins offer, but his view of right and wrong had as of late been slightly blurred. He still used the time turner when he had an assignment due and no time in which to do it. But it was certainly in no way cheating, right!

So he went Dumbledore's office wearing jeans and a black muscle shirt and, because it was October, a robe from Sirius. It was black and long sleeved. It would have fit snuggly on Sirius but it was still fairly loose on him. It didn't go to his toes but was cut off just below his bum and had no hood. Harry was starting to see a pattern here; apparently Sirius didn't like hoods very much. Being from a muggle family it was impossible to tell if he was being fashionable or out of date. Maybe he'd set a new trend.

He met Remus in the hall by the gargoyle. Remus gave the password and they went up together. In the office he found Dumbledore and Mr. Minolta talking. It was pretty easy to figure out their topic of conversation. Was he going to try out for a team?

Mr. Minolta noticed their entrance and said excitedly "Mr. Everson, good news! Would you rather play for The Tutshill Tornados, Puddlemore United or The Chudley Cannons?" He didn't have time to answer before Mr. Minolta was out of his seat and telling him all about the different circumstances. Apparently those three were the ones in need of or those wanted a new seeker or were paying the best. They all had a practice today and HE was invited to come out to try for the team.

It was awesome! They left Hogwarts after fetching his Quidditch clothes and equipment (minus the school uniform as he wasn't on the team). They went to the Tornados practice first. He felt awkward around the players, they were all adults and he was sooo much smaller than them! They looked like they played well together and to see what he could do the coach asked him to catch the snitch a few times. After about two hours they went to the next one, the Cannons practice. In comparison in was an unorganized mess, although a very enthusiastic mess. He got lobbed in the head by accident as the beater actually missed the bludger with his club and it flew out of his hands. Yes, he got hit in the head by a stray _bat. _Needless to say, they left early. How Ron could cheer for that team was lost on him.

Last was the United team. They were a lot like the Tornados team in skill and teamwork but they were not very nice. One player insisted that the wind would blown him off the pitch and surely make them lose. But they were an awesome team to work with. Their practice was more of a position centered exercise. Chasers worked together, Beaters worked together and it was more than likely the seekers job to practice alone. Not realy untied in his opinion, which actually wasn't worth dirt.

Now he had a choice to make. If he chose the Cannons Ron would probably want to be his best friend again. Any other team and he'd hate him. In any case, he and Lavender would have to celebrate. She had become a bit annoying though.

Nobody had gotten around to mentioning how much money he'd be making either. Or how he'd actually go to practices during school or how to get there. He did have a feeling that a time turner would work well though…


	15. A Sad Celebration

A Sad Celebration

"You have to pick the United! They're like my favourite Quidditch team ever! Our old keeper Oliver Wood is on that team too!" Lavender nagged him for the tenth time that morning. Darian had "let slip by accident" his opportunity to Lavender. All he wanted was her opinion but now she wouldn't stop giving it!

Directly following this irritating pronouncement Harry made up his mind. "Lavender", he said. "I want to break up with you." Immediately the girls eyes began to water and her lip started trembling. He'd gotten to know Lavender really well and found that she was what you may call the dumb blonde. Although his identity would never be found out by her, and the snogging was awesome, he was tired of her. She had this tendency to be a tad annoying.

"Wh- why?" She asked.

Not wanting to be overly mean, Darian said "I just don't think it's working out. It would be better if we both looked for other people you know?" The conversation ended there as Lavender ran from the empty common room.

Now with his mind firmly set on the Tornados as the team of choice Darian marched back up to his dorm room did some homework and later got his two way mirror. "Remus Lupin" he called into it. For a few moments all he saw was the inside of Moony's robes, then Remus's head appeared.

"Hey Darian, what's going on? If your asking for help on you defense homework you can ask Hermione."

"It's not that, I've decided I want to play for the Tornados. Should I try to get a hold of-" he was cut off by a whoop of joy on the other end, which was strangely followed by the question "did you and you girlfriend have a fight?"

"Er, I broke up with Lav ya, why?" Harry asked, thinking this can't be good.

"Because she's at the Gryffindor table in tears. Doesn't look that bad though. Hey, why aren't you down here eating like everyone else? Flitwick is starting to look at me funny, thinks I'm talking to my lap."

"Not hungry." Harry replied. Clearly someone was getting grumpy.

"Nightmare?" Remus asked concerned.

"ya, Dumbledore wants me to write 'em all down, but he isn't going to do anything about them anyway, the old ."

"Darian!" Remus exclaimed as Harry said something very rude.

"Well he is! Remember the first one?" Harry continued, referring to the one concerning his deceased relatives. Darian had gone to see Dumbledore since then about nightmares and every time the headmaster claimed that they couldn't use the information he provided most of the time. Even if they could they had to wait so long so that it would seem reasonable that he had a spy inform him or something. This was because not even The Order could know that he was alive. So, while his visions were accurate and super reliable, they were taboo. He had them three to four times a week. Mme. Pomphrey had to supply him with Dreamless sleep potions and something that came in a questionable candy bar form that made him feel better after the crucio curse. After his first vision they had put up a silencer around his bed, but he kept Remus's mirror strapped to the post so he'd know what was going on. Remus had come and woken him up many times already, thank Merlin. It acted as an effing baby monitor, making Harry feel so mature.

With a sigh moony advised two things. "Come and eat , than go see Dumbledore. He'll make arrangements with Mr. Minolta and we'll all work out a schedule." Probably remembering what Dumbledore said about Harry having to get physical exercise Remus added "I guess this way we won't be going out of our way to get your exercise."

The next afternoon (Sunday) would find Remus, Harry, Dumbledore Mr. Minolta and Coach Oakley in the Headmater's office finalizing the contract and working out a way for Harry to get to practices. School did tend to take a chunk out of your day.

Mr. Minolta introduced everyone. Coach Oakley and Darian had already met; she was the coach for the Tutshill Tornados. Basically they wanted him on the team. There were a few problems however. For one thing, how would he get to practices? They were scheduled outside of Hogwarts, in fact, he wasn't sure where. He asked but the adults didn't explain that well, a Quidditch Pitch somewhere. Near the end Mr. Minolta started suggesting that he dropped classes so Darian spoke up.

"Why don't I just use a time turner? It's the only way I can get there and go to class."

"Well, that's not true", Remus said. "We could clone you, but that may perturb your performance. We could instead, er, no, no that won't work. OR-"Moony was (thank Merlin) cut off but Dumbledore.

"Professor Lupin I believe that is an idea that may work. No, not the cloning, the time turner. Players have done this in the past. Coach Oakley what is your opinion on the subject?"

"Ya, it could work. We'll need to get permission to use one though. The Ministry doesn't hand them out like candy which is hard enough to come by as it is." Way to use strange similes.

Dumbledore being old and senile as he is, went off on a tangent here. -"Ah yes, I remember the time when I offered the Head of Dangerous Creatures a lemon drop. Tried to spell it for any sign of aggressive behaviour as I recall. He picked it up and-"

"Headmaster Dumbledore?" Coach Oakley butt in, "Everson's idea will work just fine. I will personally request one, knowing your relations I feel it will go more smoothly. It may help that the Head of that office is a Tornados fan", she added with a smile.

_Uh, ooops. Why did I have to say it? Now I have to tell them I already have one. Dammit. _"Eh, I already have one. So really all we need is permission to use it. Hehe." He tried laughing to lighten the mood a bit.

Dumbledore asked the obvious questions "Where did you get one?", "Why do you have one?" and "Why wasn't I told about this?" followed by "Please explain!".

_Oshitoshitoshitoshitoshitshitttttyyyyy! _Very uncomfortable now he answered slowly "Er, well, Mad-Eye had one and he never actually used it…"

"You stole it from that nutcase!" Moony exclaimed right before he burst out laughing. "Way to go kid! YES!" Seeing the dirty looks he was getting from the other adults he quickly shut up and said instead "apologize later kay?" Clearly Remus still didn't like Mad-Eye.

Dumbledore of course had to put in his bit. He said "Have you ever used it previously?" Harry answered in the negative. That would be a no. Dumbledore continued "If Alastor allows it you may keep that one. Do you have it with you?" Harry dug into his shirt and pulled out the time turner. As he did so Dumbledore got a glimpse of the necklace he permanently charmed around his neck and smiled. Harry handed it over for the old man to inspect. "You pilfered a rather good one my boy. How many hours can you go back on this?"

He answered dishonestly saying "The longest I've gone back is 6 hours. You may want to ask Mad-Eye that one."

Dumbledore frowned and said "So you _have _used it?"

Awww Fuck! Dumbeldore you sneaky ass bastard! Instead he replied "Er, only for homework purposes sir."

Dumbledore seemed unconvinced. Mr. Minolta was amused though. "Riiiight, sure. What a ladies man. Don't blame the boy Headmaster, it's natural for boys to be interested in the opposite sex."

Before Harry could protest Coach Oakley said "Alright, this is getting off topic. I have to get back to my team. Everson I want you at the pitch tomorrow morning 7:00 sharp. We'll get you a jersey that fits and your number. You get new equipment and our first game with you as seeker is 3 weeks from now so I want you training hard! No more eating that chocolate junk. It's a world Tournament, you'll be missing a good two weeks of school which we already talked about so ask for your homeworkwork early. We'll be receiving details later. Any questions? No? I'll be off then." She got up and left through the Floo.

Mr. Minolta wrapped up our business saying "Alright Mr. Everson, I'll need you to sign here, here, and here. You don't have to right now. Take your time and read it over. Or even better, get Proffesor Lupin here to read it for you! It just states that we are in no way responsible for any injuries you may attain. You do get a good health care bonus I believe. It also says how much money you'll make monthly and such. Just technicalities. I'll leave that with you, good luck!" With that he left too. Now it was just him, Dumbledore and Moony. No doubt he was going to be punished for stealing the time turner.

Predictably it was Dumbledore who spoke first. "Now I'm not going to ask you what you did with the turner, it is clear you are adamant about not telling me. I must remind you of the consequences you may have to face for using time in this way. Any number of terrible things could occur as I'm sure Miss Granger has already stressed upon you."

"Sir, she doesn't know I have it. I always have it except for gym class and yes, I know what could happen but I'm careful with it."

Dumbledore asked "What made you think you needed one Harry?" Remus nodded in agreement; apparently he wanted to know as well.

"Err, it was you who said that I should let go and enjoy myself sir." Dumbledore of course didn't like his excuse but Remus just shook his head muttering "too much like Sirius and James… At least we didn't go with the cloning." Harry would have laughed at that but Dumbledore was angry enough as it was. Impatient to leave Harry decided to finish things up. He only had one question "why didn't you send wizards to Privet Drive?"

"Harry I have already explained this. We cannot act on the information from your visions. Voldemort would begin to suspect disloyalty among his ranks. This could only mean trouble for our spy's. We can't afford to have them dead. With the exception of your visions there is no way we could have such a fast alert of his activities, thus it is best to act carefully with the information you provide."

"Fine anything else you want or can we go?" Harry asked right before he heard something break to his left. He wasn't even that mad that time! The thing just broke!

"Don't worry about my clock; I'm sure I can fix it again." Dumbledore said reassuringly. "Come to my office at 6:30 tomorrow morning. We are going to port key you to the Quidditch area. I'll have the House Elves provide you with a breakfast. I will inform Alastor of your theft. He shouldn't mind, I believe he has more than one time turner."

"Although he may want to turn you into a ferret." Remus teased. _Hopefully_ kidding, yes. How he heard aboutthe Malfoy incident with Mad-Eyewas a question worthy of consideration. Harry didn't remember telling him.

"I'll just go then. Bye." Harry got up and left just grateful that they didn't call him back.

Hermione cornered him later that day and enthusiastically explained her and Ron's plans for the DA. They had organized it so that it was no longer a secret association more like a club. It would not be in the room of requirement as they agreed that it was better off as a more secret place. Basically they wanted to keep it to themselves. It wouldn't be any good if the whole school knew about it! Instead Dumbledore was providing them with a large unused class room to use. Everyone above 3rd year was welcome and it sounded like there was going to be a good turn out for the first meeting.

She had an extensive list of spells already, but not only did she not know how to do half of them, the list wouldn't last them the whole year. So basically she was asking him to add to it. Off the top of his head he tripled the list both for offensive and defensive spells and curses. _What can I say, I had some spare time over the summer, _Harry thought.

"So you'll go to the meeting tonight? It's at 6:00 on fifth floor corridor. Ron put up signs so it should be easy to find, provided he didn't get lost." She stated.

He promised to be there, and then he told her he was playing for the Tornados and she hugged him, really hard. She was happy for him he could tell, but then she had to ask the question "have you told Ron?"

"Erm, promise not to curse me if I say no?"

"Are you serious _Darian, _he is your best friend, he just doesn't know it yet. You have to tell him, he'll figure it out eventually."

"I doubt he would 'Mione. Besides, can you imagine how pissed he'd be if he heard I play for the tornados, not the Cannons? He doesn't know Darian Everson, we don't have a strong friendship you know that."

"He'll be madder if you don't tell him now", she said in her "you're wrong I'm right" voice. Hell she probably was.

"Well what do you expect me to say? Hey Ron, I think the Cannons are crap so I play for the Tornados instead?"

"Darian…"

"O and maybe I'll add that I get paid huh?" Harry went on getting into a right angry mood.

"Darian"

"And if things are going well I'll just rub in that I'm going to be famous and miss weeks of school for tournaments. Ya that'll go smoothly" Darian concluded sarcastically. Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned only to meet a fist right in the face. The blow connected hard with his right eye, but not as hard as Uncle Vernon's punch had. He heard Hermione scream and quickly recovered looking to his assailant. His eyes widened as he realized the furious red head he saw was Ron, so the first attack wasn't a fluke, Ron had become considerably violent.

Ron moved to attack again but this time he was ready. He had after all learned a few things from Mad-Eye, even if they didn't cover hand to hand combat. When Ron sailed his arm at his head again he ducked it and using all of his weight flipped Ron over his back and moved into a duel fighter stance ready for anything. Mind you, Hermione would never forgive him if he really hurt Ron, but it was tempting. Ron got up slowly in pain and upon seeing that Darian had his wand pointed purposefully at him he shot for his own. As angry as he was he drew fast and had a spell on his lips but Darian was prepared. He quickly put up a shield which effectively blocked the curse and retaliated. "Eat slugs buddy!" he called before lashing out at Ron. The spell quickly took effect and Ron barfed up a big one. Feeling he himself was going to be sick he turned and left only stopping to advise Hermione to take him to the hospital wing.

He didn't see Ron for the rest of the day, Ron even missed the DA meeting. Hermione said he was still barfing up slugs. That's a long time to barf up slugs, maybe he put more power into it than he meant to. Oooops.

Right, about the DA meeting, everybody that showed signed up but overall he felt that the meeting was a total and complete embarrassment. Ron was going to be the victim to Hemione's demonstration of spells, but as Ron wasn't there he had to sub in. It started out alright, they reviewed stunners and simple curses and then Hermione went insane. She felt that it was going so well that she should let the members try a few things out on an experienced battle combatant, him. He could dodge and shield so it was good experience. Well that was fine, until one especially giddy chick got an idea.

"Now, nothing that can potentially harm Darian, just disarm got it?" Hermione asked. The girl was a stressed out fourth year Hufflepuff who would probably go to her common room and do more homework after this. Supposedly she was looking for a good time. She nodded understanding and smiled nervously. This is when Harry first started to get panicky; he didn't want this girl looking at him like _that. _

The girl said her spell and he tried to dodge, but unfortunately was not fast enough. All Darians clothes disappeared, save for his boxers. Very clever, haha. Blushing more than he ever had in his life he quickly conjured up some clothes, which he was never very good at but somehow he managed. Before he could cloth himself however Colin Creevey had struggled his way to the front of the onlookers and very pleased girls to take some serious blackmail pictures. He only managed a few flashes however before Harry got the clothes on. So there you have it. What an eventful day. Everybody had a good laugh at his expense and tya, everyone had a good time. Hermione quickly wrapped up the meeting and everybody left. Harry was just too embarrassed to ask for his clothes back. Poor Harry has a bad track record with clothing, first Moony banished his sock, the Mr. Minolta ripped his shirt and now this, perfectly spiffing. It was really tempting to go back in time and steal Colin's camera.


	16. Quidditch

Note: Nothing in this chapter has anything to do whatsoeverwith Gundam Wing or any otherwise related fictions.

Quidditch

The following morning Harry was woken up by a house elf (not Dobby) at six and was given a breakfast tray that consisted of a fruit bowl and his choice of half a dozen cereals. Being that he wasn't ever hungry first thing in the morning he took the fruit and wished that pancakes were considered healthy eating. He made sure he had both dirks (otherwise known as smallish daggers) and his wands, his contacts were in and so on as was his usual routine. He got dressed as quietly as possible, grabbed his backpack and his Firebolt, both from Sirius and made his way to Dumbledore's office. (The Coach had asked if he had a Firebolt, he said yes. If anybody else asked he'd say the team provided it.) Now he had an excuse to ride his Firebolt instead of the Nimbus, yay!

"You're late Harry" was the first thing Dumbledore said when he walked in. Dumbledore had said 6:30 and it was 6:45, big deal. Dumbledore had taken to calling him by his real name when they were alone; maybe he just couldn't get used to another name. Dumbledore wanted him to go to his office before he left so he could keep track of him, a safety precaution. Dumbledore was becoming a real stick.

"I have personally looked over your contract and it is fine. I requested that you arrive here earlier so we could discuss it but clearly we don't have time. Just sign these and give them to your coach." Harry quickly scribbled his signature when needed. "I trust you slept well?" Harry answered in the positive but he really hadn't. As it was he kept yawning.

"Now, I just want to do a small experiment, I don't want you to panic, just do whatever it is you did with Nymphadora. Now, stand over here please." Curious he obliged and stood next to the desk. Dumbledore took out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "Silencio", he commanded. The spell hit him and he immediately lost his voice. It was obvious what the Headmaster was doing, he had taken out a stop-watch and was timing him. Determined to shock the old codger he started fighting it off. He had actually gotten quite good at it but it still hurt his voice.

After a few struggles he shook the curse off, coughed and commented his voice hoarse "you're evil". Man that hurt.

Dumbledore at least seemed pleased; he stared at his watch for a moment then started scribbling furiously on some paper on his desk. "Can you cast a spell with your voice like that?" Harry's face went dark for a second, a thought had occurred to him. He smiled and drew his wand. Pointing it at Dumbledore he quickly cast an engorgement charm on Dumbledore's nose. He looked amused and went back to scribbling notes after changing his own nose back to a normal proportion. "Now then I believe it is about time you left for practice my boy. Mad-Eye will be present as a precaution but he will be invisible and this is your Port-Key."

Dumbledore handed him a wristwatch that actually told the time. He could tell it wasn't a muggle watch however as it was too thin. Booya! He got a new watch. Dumbledore continued explaining. "When practice is over use the time turner to go back in time a few hours, then return here. Activate the port key and it will bring you directly to my office. Do you understand?" Dumbledore said this all very slowly.

"Ya ya" is what Harry tried to say but it came out more like a groan as his voice was just shot. _Evilevilevilevilevil, I wonder if he has something for sore throats? _As if reading his thoughts Dumbledore cast a spell that soothed his throat. There was no time to find out if it worked though as Harry glanced at his watch, saw that it was almost 7:00. Dumbledore told him to tap it three times with his wand to activate it. He did as instructed and was sent out of Hogwarts to Quidditch practice.

Darian arrived near the edge of the pitch. He heard voices from the rather large building behind him and walked in. Directly to his right were the change rooms, the origins of the noise he was hearing. A ways in front of him was a counter with a cashier and Coach Oakley. Unsure of what he was supposed to do he approached her. After all he couldn't exactly change as he had no uniform and he was too nervous to walk into the change room and ask the other players who were all adults what he was supposed to do!

"Coach?" he asked having walked across the marble floor and having discovering that his voice was fine. Said woman turned at his voice and upon spotting him she told him to wait a minute. Well technically it was more of a mumbled than anything but he got the gist. The cashier handed her a large coffee and she took a big swig of it despite that it was hot and had probably just burnt her tongue.

Satisfied she gave him her attention (or at least looked more alert) and greeted him. "How's our newest seeker this s'morning?" She asked with faked cheerfulness hiding a yawn with her free hand, the other holding her coffee.

"Er, I have the contract here. Umm, aren't I supposed to get equipment and stuff before practice?"

"Right." The Coach put the contract on the counter and bent over and picked a big bag up off the ground and with a slight heave handed it too him. "I'll need that bag back when you're done. Everything's in there, just go on in and get changed, the guys are expecting ye. Boys change is closest to the pitch. We're workin' in the gym first thing so just put on the shorts and shirt in there. Ummm you're gunna have to leave your shoes and socks off too. Take off any jewelry or anything that might fall off. " Not bothering to ask why he made his way to the change room.

The second he opened the door all talking ceased. You could have heard a pin drop. The man closest to the door spoke first. The most obvious thing about him was his strong arms, an observation that was proven correct when he shook his hand and introduced everyone. He said something like this "Hey, Everson right? I'm Morgan Arden, beater, that's Hans Blix, chaser, Duo Maxwell-"

"The BETTER chaser". Maxwell interrupted. Maxwell appeared to be about 18 years old making him the second youngest player on the team. He had brown hair, was generally good looking and not overly tall.

"Sure sure. Just remember who scored the most points last time." Blix interjected.

Moving on Arden continued to point people out and introduce them. "And lastly this guy here is Otto Nerpin, chaser. Pick a locker any locker." With that Arden turned back to getting ready for practice. _That wasn't too bad_ Harry thought. _Very considerate of Arden introducing me like that._ He quickly got dressed so he wouldn't be last out and followed the team to the gym. He had taken off his timeturner and dirks and wands, whatever except for the necklace that was rather permanently stuck round his neck.

The gym was as expected, pretty damn big. It reminded him of 5th grade in Surrey, gym class. He was always picked last. This gymnasium was much more impressive, and he knew he wouldn't be picked last for anything ever again. Fame can bring good things after all.

Coach Oakley was getting equipment out and everyone went to help. They ran on a routine, it showed as they quickly and efficiently got everything out without a hint of confusion. He helped set up mats on the floor while they took out weights and such. That was expected, what wasn't expected was the gymnastics stuff. They took out bars and put up bigger mats beneath and around them, indicating more safety was needed. A huge mat was set up in the corner of the gym and a spring was set before a longer mat. There was also a long beam, he'd never even been on one before. This bode no good for him, all the gym classes he'd had were in elementary school and gymnastics wasn't really covered very well. They had yet to do gymnastics in gym at Hogwarts._ All I can do is a cartwheel, they can't expect me to do this stuff right! _He thought nervously.

When everything was ready each teammate went to different places and most didn't look too happy. He saw two girls on the team, Hailee Blix who was a beater and Hans Blix's sister but not twin and Carmen Sanchez the keeper. They had of course been in the other changeroom but had already seen him when he came to tryout.

Not knowing what he was to do Darian went to the Coach again. She knew what he was going to ask and explained the training. "Most of the time we're out on the pitch but today we're obviously in here. I know what you can do on a broom but I want to see how flexible you are. Since you're small you should focus on flexibility and speed, lucky you don't have to do bench presses!"

Here Blix the chaser complained "Damn straight he's lucky. Lucky lucky lucky" Blix continued as he walked past.

"You seen Krum play right?" At his nod she continued "You're going to be playing him sometime. He is a lot bigger than the normal seeker and he uses that weight for sharp turning and excellent dives. You being so tiny are going to worry about the fancy and cool-looking sneakiness. I have an assistant to help with the acrobatics here, where'd she go… Angie there you are!" Angie was a woman of about 30 years and when she heard her name she walked over on her hands! Her _hands_! "Angie here's gunna spot you and teach you how to do the flip-de-doos and make your toe touch your ear." With a nod to Angie, the Coach left them.

"Darian Everson" he introduced himself. May as well get on her good side right? They shook hands and got to work. First they stretched out, okay she stretched while he endured a lot of pain. Sure they stretched before football in gym, but not to this extent. He got the feeling that Angie was both disgusted and depressed at the same time when she discovered that he couldn't touch his toes. When she did the splits he visibly flinched and she said that soon he'd be able to do it too. Oh Merlin. Well one thing was for sure, Mad-Eye was going to have a hard time trying not to laugh.

Four and a half hours later Darian felt like a rubber balloon (a deflated one at that) and was wondering why, just why he loved Quidditch. These flexible things would help on a broom though. The bars were a scary thought; he couldn't think how they expected him to twirl around on a broom like a stupid gymnatics bar, hundreds of feet in the air! Angie had been happy that he could do a cartwheel and learned a round off, an easy variation of the cartwheel, and simple things like somersaulting but those weren't much help. They were most concerned with the bars, which is where he spent half of the practice. Thankfully around 10:00 they went onto the pitch and had a mock game, followed by more practice. But at least it wasn't done on a balance beam!

"Kay, 12:00, you can all go. On the pitch first thing tomorrow. Get out of here." The Coach dismissed them.

Famished Harry was in a hurry to get back to Hogwarts just in time for breakfast. Course that would mean he had the wonderful selection from healthy food. Bah. Before he could eat however he had to shower. They all sweat and smelled awful. Once in the change room everyone went for the showers and Darian couldn't help but noticed how scrawny he was compared to them, in most places he noted proudly.

He was reaching for his towel when a wet one whipped him on the side of the leg. He yelped in surprise and before his attacker could even grab the other end of the towel Darian's hand had, perhaps on reflex, grabbed his opponent's wrist in a firm grip. He looked up to see who it was (everybody was taller than him) and saw the chaser Duo Maxwell. He was, duh, surprised that he had a hold on his wrist and it showed on his face. Hans Blix who was also done in the shower saw the whole thing and burst out laughing. Darian let go of Maxwell's wrist embarrassed, picked up his towel which he wrapped around his waist and smiled when Blix teased the chaser instead of him. At least they had pants on.

"Haha! Should've known better than to try that on the seeker you dumbass! "This was closely followed by "Ahhhhh!" as said dumbass threw the towel at Blix's head. "Ew, tell me this isn't the one you just used!"

Ignoring Blix and turning back to Darian, Maxwell said "Just call me Duo, it sounds better than Maxwell. Sorry about the whip lash there, just kidding around."

"Ow" Darian muttered looking disheartened in response bringing a laugh from his team mates.

"Figures a seeker would have fast reflexes. Hey, what's that, your family crest?" Duo asked indicating his necklace. He couldn't take the damn thing off even for a shower.

"Ya, I can't take the bloody thing off, it's permanently stuck here." Darian complained.

"Awww shit, Coach won't like that. Here I'll fix it so she won't care." Before Darian could really work up a good argument Duo had fetched his wand from his locker and was approaching Darian eying the necklace on his chest. "Just don't move, I wouldn't want to shrink any body parts." Not sure if the guy was kidding Darian didn't even dare breath. After a few moments Duo backed up and nodded happily "that'll do. I shrunk the chain as far as I could. Now it's not so big on you, before it could have gotten caught on something or whatever and been a "safety hazard" in Quidditch. I'd say there'll be no problem now."

"Thanks, I hadn't thought of that" Darian said. By now everyone was done in the shower and he went back to his locker and changed into the clothes he had worn that morning. He put his Quidditch stuff in Sirius' bag and took out the coaches bag and put in where she could find it in the hall. He went back in, put on his weapons and was almost ready to leave when someone asked the question "Did you quit school to join Quidditch Everson? Or what?"

He answered truthfully "Nah, I use a time turner to go back for classes."

The adults seemed impressed but Duo said "brilliant but man, I don't think you're supposed to tell people that."

"Oh" he said blinking and left the change room hoping nobody would say anything. He hadn't considered that, if anybody wanted to get him in trouble he could always say he didn't know it was a secret. Oooops.

Not sure if they were right Harry checked to see if anybody was near and called "Eh, I need to ask you something." The only response he got was the invisible Mad-Eye pushing on his back edging him outside. Pushing is an understatement, more like he side checked him or something and knocked him into the door and Harry opened it to escape. If that was his plan it failed miserably as the second he was away from the door Mad-Eye tackled him to the ground and held him pinned which was a hell of a lot scarier than if he was visible.

"You be lucky I'm guarding you else I would ave lit your ass on fire! How dare you steal from me twerp! Now use my turner and get back to school a'fore I change my mind about having fireworks." This was a rather hard command to obey as Mad-Eye held him under all his weight and thus he couldn't really move. Probably because he was frightened his magic kicked in and sent Mad-Eye flying, the same as with Dudley only with less power. He'd really have to learn how he did that as it would be good wandless magic.

With Mad-Eye effectively removed Harry tugged out his (technically Moody's) time turner and set it back 3 and a half hours. The sun up in the sky rapidly changed position and the temperature dropped until it was certainly morning again. He pulled his sleeve up and tapped his watch three times to activate it and was sent back to Dumbledore's office. The headmaster was there and asked how it went, Harry replied by asking "Am I allowed to tell my teammates that I use a time turner?"

"Now that's really up to your coach. I assume practice went well, go on down for breakfast. From now on this office will be empty when you get back so let yourself out. I enjoy eating in the Hall at this time." Nodding understanding Harry left and ran for the Great Hall, more specifically, food. At this point he didn't care if it was another fruit bowl, food was good.

He found Hermione and Ron sitting together and went to sit with them when Ron turned and saw him. Ron sent him the coldest look ever; it would give even Snape frostbite. Clearly he shouldn't even consider sitting near Ron, instead he located Dean, Seamus and Neville and ate with them. It was good to talk to Dean again, he hadn't seen much of 'im as he'd been with Ron.

Now it was something before nine and after eight thirty in the morning and he had time for some breakfast food before potions, then Herbology followed by lunch. After that he had Gym and Defense. Bascially he'd be dead by the end of classes.

Potions was almost a disaster as Dean was his partner that day and neither of them excelled in that class but their potion turned out alright. At least it didn't explode. Pretty much everything else did though, Ron kept looking at him with the maddest look, everybody noticed, and even Snape was too busy trying to figure it out to take too many points. Ron's glare was obviously upsetting Harry, he couldn't deny it as stuff kept suffering from his magic. The shelves, neighboring potions you name it. Before he left the room was a disaster.

Herbology was much of the same as Ron also had that class. He was starving by lunch and had to remind himself to eat healthy stuff. In gym they all got considerably wet. Mme. Hooch had them play Blitzball, a wizarding sport that was popular in the West but rarely played in Britain. Defense was getting progressively harder, even for him. When someone complained he only said he had to make up for their past incompetent teachers. They were learning some serious curses now. After class he cheated a bit a used the time turner going back to lunch time and took a nap in Gryffindor Tower. That done he and the guys actually did some homework (gasp) and he went off to find Remus.

He saw Mme. Hooch leaving Moony's office and when he walked in asked "Hey Remus, did you make a new friend?"

Blushing Remus began furiously rubbing his cheek and ignoring the boys question asked innocently "how was practice?" They had a good time in which Remus made him recount everything about practice that morning which seemed like forever ago and flipped out when he mentioned that Mad-Eye tackled him after. Remus left shortly after that probably to complain.

Harry ran into Hermione who was on her way to visit Hagrid. He insisted that he get reintroduced to his large friend. Hagrid had seen him around with Hermione and sometimes Ron and before they left for curfew commented that he knew why they liked him, he was a lot like Harry Potter. "Did you know him well too?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Aye, I knew 'im. Didn't ever like fame that one, he was like a son too me. I was the first wizard he ever met." Hagrid said gloomily.

Trying to be comforting Darian said softly "wherever Harry is right now, I'm sure he's watching over you". They promised to visit again and the second they were out the door twack Hermione smacked the back of is head in penalty.

And so three weeks passed from October to November and the upcoming big and humongous Quidditch world tournament. Through this time Ron and Darian got into more than one angry duel in DA meetings all of which Ron got his ass whipped. He was loaded down with the extra homework for the two weeks he'd be missing. Things blew up less frequently as he was often tired from Quidditch practice. His flexibility had improved phenomenally as Angie had a potion brewed up that he took daily for the first week that made him more flexible. He didn't know the details about it, just that he was really sore for days. And so, he lay in bed the night before a nervous wreck, not even knowing where the team was headed the next day.


	17. World Cup Tournament

World Cup Tournament

Their first game in who knows where wasn't until 2:00 in the afternoon so he got to sleep in until 8: 30 and go to his morning classes. The team was to meet at the usual practice place and from there they'd use the floo network to get wherever they had to go. Everywhere they played the Stadium was expected to be packed, so ya, he was a bit nervous.

Somehow throughout the three weeks the whole school had found out that he was Seeker for the Tornados but we won't say any names, cough, Lavender, cough, cough. Now he had a good amount of girls trying to take Lavender's place which he didn't really mind. He packed things for over-nighting 2 weeks in strange place. He brought his dirks and wands mirror and lots of clothes, tooth brush but still packed as light as he could. He stuffed it all in Sirius's bag and noted that it did get a bit heavier. He ate lunch with Neville, Dean and Seamus and at 12:00 he said good bye to Remus and port keyed to the pitch. Merlin he'd never get used to those things.

He got there and went to the change rooms. They were to get in uniform before they went so they'd be ready for pictures and look impressive and stuff. He decided it would not be wise to wear the dirks as he might get in trouble if caught with a knife so he left those and his newer wand in his bag and strapped the old on in its holster. Having got changed he waited by the fireplace with the others.

Duo had just enough time to tell him about his first tournament, the last one, and how the seeker had to be carried off the pitch twenty minutes in. Duo was too much like Wood when it came to pep talks. Finally the Coach arrived and gave them all a proper pep talk, and as considerate as she was, asked if he had his homework done. This raised a good laugh from everyone; he was often the subject of a joke. He chose not to answer and considering his last experience he went through with Duo instead of alone. Knowing him he'd probably end up in Alaska.

He and Duo came through after the Coach and immediately faced a huge crowd waiting to see the arriving players. He was overwhelmed as wizarding cameras flashed and people were stretching their hands out to touch them. Soon the whole team was present and they made their way past the crowd to heir designated tent. They went over tactics for an hour then were on the pitch practicing. Because it was November (albeit warmer than in Britain) the stadium had a warming spell of some sort on it and nobody was freezing. They tossed the Quaffle around and did simple drills to warm up. By then he was a nervous wreck and was just glad he wasn't a chaser or they'd be screwed. His hands were shaking and he kept fumbling the ball. All too soon the whistle blew signaling the end of warm up and one at a time they circled the pitch. The commentator had to introduce everyone after all.

Unfortunately that included him and what's even more unfortunate was that the Seeker always got introduced _last._ Taking a deep breath he kicked off and did his lap around the pitch. He didn't really hear what the commentator was saying as he felt like he was going to be sick and just wanted to get it done before his lunch landed on some poor unsuspecting spectator. He made his landing again and waited while the other team had their turn. This naturally didn't take as long as he had hoped. Perhaps his emotions showed on his face because Duo, trying to be reassuring, gave him a flap on the back resulting in him landing face first on the ground. The crowd laughed at the incident and he blushed a shade of red so deep you could most likely see from the stands. Glaring at Duo he straightened up and got ready. By this time they were ready to play and after the Referee checked to see if he was okay, the whistle blew and they kicked off.

Immediately he went high above the stadium and circled looking for the snitch. Not two minutes into the game and the opposing team scored a goal. He basically ignored the other seeker and looked on his own. Then at the other end of the pitch he saw a glint of gold and at the same time the other seeker who was closer to it dove for the ground pretending to have seen it.

Smirking to himself he made it look like he was following the other seeker. He shot in that direction apparently after the seeker then took a sharp turn straight for the snitch. He ducked as a Bludger grazed over his head and not looking back reached for the snitch. He was about to close his hand around it when one of the opposing chasers appeared in front of him and Darian flung himself over the side of the broom with only two hands holding on. Once he was under the chaser and safe on the other side he landed back on the broom and discovered that the snitch had disappeared.

Growling slightly Darian continued his search closer to the game. This would make the snitch harder to see, but it was colder higher up. A few more failed attempts later and the score was 100 to 10, not good for them. Darian had to get that golden ball soon.

Then he saw it hovering just above the ground right below him. He directed his Firebolt straight down and put all his weight into it. It wasn't enough though as the other seeker caught up and made level with him. They were neck and neck. As the ground got closer Darian took a deep breath, it was the only way.

Just seconds from the snitch he pushed off his broom and turned it into the other seeker now free falling horizontal to the ground. The poor sod went flying and Harry closed his hand around the Snitch, letting his body fall on the ground. He rolled off his shoulder and wasn't quite sure what happened after that. He tumbled a good long way then training kicked in and he touched his hands on the ground and flipped himself up, his toes grazed the ground and after several uncontrolled somersaults came to a stop. He lay on his back breathing heavily waiting for the world to stop spinning and held the snitch in the air.

Finally he heard the commentator who had he assumed been poking fun at him, say "Unbelievable! Everson actually caught the Snitch!" Tornados win 160 to 100. Medical team on the pitch to fix up the bashed seekers."

Moaning slightly he sat up and shook his head trying to get rid of the adrenaline high he was currently in. He tried to stand up and fell over, a condition of dizziness he blamed on the somersaulting. Three medical wizards had reached him and were checking him over for any serious injuries. After a minute one of them helped him to his feet and got out of the way declaring him alive enough for his team to tackle him.

Glancing over he saw that the other seeking was on a stretcher being taken off the pitch. Hailee Blix handed him his Firebolt and they did a sort victory lap. The second he got off the pitch the medical team took him, Arden and Sanchez (the keeper) off to the side to heal them. Darian got lucky in that he only had some good scratches and bruises, the most damage was to his shoulder and back from hitting the ground the hardest. After being under observation for 10 minutes he was free to sit over with the rest of his team who were waiting to see how Arden was who had taken a good hit to the head.

The next week and a half was much the same only the games got more intense and progressively more violent as they went. Remus showed up for the ones on the weekend and cheered him on; money was no object to Moony now. He never played the Cannons team as they got cut off near the start.

Currently he was playing Puddlemore United (yes against Wood) and his team was up in points but Darian was having a hard time about the snitch. It was snowing out and despite the heat of the stadium he was freezing searching above. He had no choice however as if he went lower he was likely to get pegged off in the head with a bludger for the third time that game. Having seen something out of the corner of his eye Darian pulled a loop de loop and turned into a shallow dive. Closer to the Stadium below him he could hear screaming and the commentator advising people to go for the exits and not to panic but for said commentator let out a scream and was heard no more.

Panicking himself Darian shot for the stands to find Remus who had been watching the game. He didn't find Remus or any of his teammates in fact, many people were already gone. Below he saw figures' moving in black cloaks firing spells left and right at anyone in the vicinity. Death eaters! What were the chances! _Oshitoshitoshitoshitshityyyy! _At least his scar didn't hurt, so no Voldie. Staring below for a moment Harry noticed that there were people fighting the death eaters, they were apparently the security, go figure. Unfortunately they were wearing navy blue and were for this reason hard to tell from the death eaters in black, at least from a distance.

Maybe he was just mad at the death eaters for interrupting his game, cause he decided to do something stupid. Instead of staying aloft away from the fight like he should have he turned his broom to the stands and picked up somebody's rather large backpack. He held it with one hand and feeling particularly mean he waited on the edge of the stands until he saw a death eater fighting a security person one on one. Grinning evilly he dived at the guy in the darker coloured robes (hopefully the death eater) and lobbed him in the back of the head with the back pack which, by the way, felt as if it was full of bricks. Needless to say, he went out cold.

Now with his feet firmly on the ground Harry only wanted to be back in the air, he had no idea what to do down here. He was surrounded by fights and was going to be engaged in one soon if he didn't do something. A green light shot at the sky and the Dark mark appeared above the stadium like a permanent firecracker, this might have actually been brilliant if it wasn't a sign of evil.

Growling slightly Darian was about to mount his broom and do something about that light show when he got sent flying. His broom slipped out of his grip and went in another direction and his body in motion collided with another going at much the same speed. Rubbing his elbow he got back up and looked to see who he had squashed because lucky him landed on top of a soft body, rather than the hard ground.

One look at the hair and he knew who it had to be, Tonks. As spunky as she was, her hair was a ridiculous neon green colour. Looking around to make sure he wasn't about to get his head shot off he quickly got her on her feet and asked "where's Remus?"

Surprised by the fact that they were talking in a battle she turned around and looked at him. The second she saw the robes she got worried, then when she saw his face she really flipped. She was obviously smarter than anyone gave her credit for because she summoned his broom (probably sacking a few death eaters on the way) and thrust the Firebolt into his hands.

"Get out of here!" was all she said before disappearing into the fight. When a disgusting pink spell was shot and sped past his right ear he actually considered leaving. That was before his eyes picked out a woman among the death eaters and he lost all reason.

With rage coursing through him he tightened his grip on his broom and charged at her. When he was close enough he swung at her as if he was holding a baseball bat and bashed her in the face with the handle end of his broom. She went down then covered her face in pain with her hands. He wasn't sure of the damage but he smiled when blood seeped through her fingers. He wasn't done yet though. He kicked at her repeatedly in the stomach, the back, anywhere available. Feeling particularly aggravated he kicked at her hands covering her face, adding to the damage already inflicted. He crouched down next to her and took the wand from her hands, which he pocketed.

He smiled menacingly and said "hey Bella". She didn't take her hand from her face but she looked at him and almost laughed when she saw that it was a teenage boy. If she knew who he was she wouldn't be laughing. Thunder cracked nearby and he ignored it, it could hit her for all he cared but not until she knew she was a dead woman.

He flicked out his wand and pointed it at her chest. She tried moving back but only fell over. He let the blue in his eyes fade back to green and stared at her. She gasped and frantically tried to crawl away before he got up and kicked her again as hard as he could.

"You!" She spat in disgust. "You're dead, Nott killed you I saw it!" She protested, as if he would suddenly realize she was right and just say _oh, you're right, I'll just go then._

Rolling his eyes and tired of the conversation he said "Good bye bitch" and out of the blue she actually got hit by lightning. Harry didn't stop to think but if he had he may have noticed that thunder and lightning just don't happen in November or on a snowy day.

Feeling sick from the smell and just overall sight he turned and ran the other way, searching again for Remus. So, what would he do if he found Remus? He wanted to drive that sickening image out of his mind, he'd never seen someone struck by lightning and it was a horrifying sight. He got on his broom and kicked off ignoring the stinging in his left hip. He must have gotten hit by somebody.

He didn't know where to go, Tonks just said to get out. More death eaters had appeared on the scene he noticed as he flew away low to the ground heading for the exit. Someone summoned his broom down to the ground. He turned around and saw that it was Remus. His eyes went wide as Moony pointed his wand at him and the world went black.

Harry shot up wide awake and looked around him frantically. Where was he? What happened?

"Harry?" a familiar voice spoke. He looked down and spotted Remus kneeled on the floor. He took in his surroundings ignoring Moony. He was in an old room, the wall paper was falling apart, and everything was shabby, it didn't look like it had been lived in since the dinosaur age. He was laid out on a worn out couch and focusing back on Moony he saw that the man was sitting patiently on the floor.

"Where is this Moony? It is so crappy it looks like my bedroom." Harry added honestly. It truly did!

"Watch your mouth! This is my living room" Remus replied indignantly.

"Wait, seriously? You live here?" Sensing hostility from Remus, Harry decided to change the subject. Soooo, this is in London then? Wasn't I in Germany?" Harry was clearly getting really confused.

"Err, what is the last thing you remember?" Remus asked uncomfortably.

"Playing Quidditch, I was fuckin' freezing from the snow…" Remus frowned at his swear. "Then I saw the death eaters… don't remember that too well… YOU! You stunned me didn't you?" Harry yelled as he remembered that little detail.

"Oh, you remember that huh?" Remus muttered lamely. "I had too, really. I knew that you weren't about to let me use your port-key to get you out of there. The crest Dumbledore gave you is a direct port-key to my house, whereas the… watch is it? The watch is a two way link between his office and wherever it is you practice." Remus explained in his teacher voice.

"Bring me back! We can help!" Harry said suddenly and for no obvious reason. Delayed reaction maybe. Upon noticing Remus' guilty look he asked "what time is it?"

"I kept you out for a good three hours. They weren't after you but you could still have gotten hurt".

Harry said nothing and dug his hand into his jersey looking for his time turner. It was about then that he remembered that all his stuff was in the teams' tent. Whoop de doo.

Remus continued "Tonks and Mad-Eye were there. Mad-Eye has been following you around through the whole tournament. Don't get mad! Dumbledore ordered him too. Hungry?" Moony popped the last question to get his mind off things and it worked. Harry learned a few things that day, one of them being that getting stunned makes you hungry. Another being that if Remus' clothes were baggy on Remus, they swam on little old Harry. Moony insisted that Harry change out of the bloodied up and just plain dirty team robe into some of his "not fit for teaching" clothes.

It wasn't until the next game that he remembered Lestrange. He found her wand in his pocket, and knew what he did. His magic had gone wild and somehow formed lightning and he hit her with it. He did it intentionally. It scared him at first, but this was a war, people would die, and he was just glad that he got to help and avenge Sirius at the same time. He kinda wished that he hadn't done it so messily though, her image hadn't been a pretty one and for days whenever he closed his eyes, there she was.

The days turned into months and soon it was June. He had finished his first Quidditch tournament and they came in third place out of he didn't know how many, never really looked into it. Thankfully not many people were killed in the attack, many were injured though.

And before that it was December, thus christmas! He got lots of presents and such but none from the Weasleys. He really missed his Weasley jumper, really. It was the best christmas ever as it was spent at Remus' crappy crappy apartment instead of the luxurious Hogwarts. He truly enjoyed himself. That doesn't sound like a holiday but it was just him and Remus.

Since then he had acquired another girlfriend or two, not at the same time and he had been in another tournament. It had super high security and wards everywhere, just about impossible for an attack. Luckily there was no attempt.

Darian Everson was becoming known as a brilliant seeker and he was becoming famous again. This was mostly due to the fact that he beat out Krum in a Quidditch game and, made the front page of the newspaper generally shocked people in various instances. In his opinion he had gotten lucky but that wasn't how anybody else saw it.

He and Ron remained unfriendly but Hermione had eventually gotten them to stop fighting. They merely pretended the other didn't exist. Word was Hermione was concerned for Ron's health after the number of times he got beaten. Too be fair Ron had dealt out some damage, but Ron really took the worst of it. Ron was very cold towards him, beyond their tiff in fourth year. Ron often glared at him or hexed him when his back was turned. He got to see a really bad side to Ron. Ron of course only got more angry as he got more money and fame and press coverage, la-de-da.

One Hogmeade weekend around March he and Remus were in the Three Broomsticks talking not expecting to be overheard and Darian called Remus by his marauding name, Moony. Well, the Weasley twins sitting at the next table heard what he said and went nuts. They couldn't believe it, their old Defense teacher was one of the great marauders! Since then they had taken to going up too the school whenever they could and drilled him on all the pranks he and the guys pulled. They made "we met Moony" T Shirts and just worshipped Remus. They were satisfactorily embarrassed when they realized that he was called Moony because he was a werewolf, not that he mooned people when he was young. Often.

Soon after they discovered who the other marauders were and immediately wished that they had known sooner for they would have made Harry Potter a fan T shirt too, being the son of THE Prongs. Anyway, that was amusing.

So his pretty, pretty world was full of sun shine and daisies until mid June, the Hogwarts Quidditch game for the cup. That is, so long as horrifying visions, a lingering phrophesy, homeowrk and Ronald Weasley were exempt from this observation.


	18. Blowing Goats and Flipping Hedgehogs

18. Blowing Goats and Flipping Hedgehogs

With exams approaching in just weeks everyone was tense. The Quidditch match that coming Saturday afternoon was an event much anticipated by the students. The last match of the season was between Gryffindor and unexpectedly, Ravenclaw. Honestly, isn't it always Slytherin!

Darian's Saturday morning was always spent at Quidditch practice as he only got Sundays off. During a mock game he had invited Duo to the match and they portkeyed back together. Darian was a bit concerned about Duo's behavioural problems, he was a bit like an oversized 5 year old when it came to Quidditch. As Darian showed Duo around the castle fans rushed to get Duo's autograph, sure they saw Everson everyday, but Maxwell was a once inna lifetime thing!

Tired of fans Darian took him outside where they found Neville, Dean and Seamus. "Hey!" he called getting their attention. They made a sprint and met up with them. "Duo this is Neville, that's Dean and Seamus. Guys, Duo Maxwell. He's on my team, self proclaimed "better" chaser."

"Damn straight", Duo said. Slightly egotistical, but that's okay. Neville clearly knew who he was as he was staring and appeared to be itching for an autograph. Dean and Seamus apparently didn't care a whole lot, either they didn't follow Quidditch or they just weren't fans. "Darry here invited me to the game today and now I'm trying to avoid insane school girls. How long till the game?" Duo asked.

"Ah, bbb, duhh" Neville sputtered. This made no sense whatsoever, he didn't remember Neville being a Tornados fan.

"Ahh crap!" Seamus swore. "Any minute now, we're gunna be late!" With that they took off at a run for the pitch. "We are going to get the worst seats ever - if any" Seamus complained between breaths.

"This blows goats!" Duo exclaimed and immediately everyone stopped running to look at him funny.

"Sweet flippin' hedgehogs and horny knarls!" Dean added randomly. That being more retarded than anything they'd ever heard set them running for the pitch again trying not to laugh.

They made it to the stands in time and a few girls squashed together to make room. One seventh year girl claimed that she lost her spot and had nowhere to sit and so saying gently lowered herself to sit on Duo's lap, her face uber red. You kinda got the idea that because there certainly was room she just wanted to sit with Duo. He clearly didn't mind though as he shifted slightly and got comfortable in a position that isn't going to be described. Darian himself was slightly jealous as he had been single for a few months now. He had been taking a break from it as last time he actually got dumped and had decided that girls are evil demons.

Getting his mind back on track Darian looked around a bit. Two rows behind him was Tonks with purple hair, she was probably on Harry duty and had watched him since Dumbledore's office. He had recently discovered that he always had one of them following him pretty close over the weekends.

"Hey everyone shut up and listen!"-

"This is the final game of the year"-

"The big kanhuna"-

"And right after this match"-

"You want to go to the front entrance and buy lots of stress relieving goodies from The Weasley Wizard Wheezes!"-

"McGonnagal is threatening to take our mike, guess we'll get on with the game."

"It's Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw!"

The Quaffle was released. He had to admit, the Gryffindor team was pretty good. The beaters were better than their previous game. Ten minutes in Gryffindor was up 40 -10 and they weren't backing down. He didn't expect them to win this one though, he had seen the Ravenclaw seeker play before, Ginny was screwed. It was odd, everyone had expected to hear booing from the Slytherin's when a goal was scored but none came. That had never happened before either!

Ravenclaw had just scored their second goal against Ron when the audience lost all interest in the game. Unheard by the players a great shriek of terror rang out. The voice sounded femine and was coming from the castle. In a second what looked like half the teachering staff was on the ground and Dumbledore's voice rang out "everyone please stay seated! Remain calm; we do not want to panic." His loud voice reached Madam Hooch who halted the game, brooms grounded and silence reigned.

Cornelious Fudge, Minister for Magic approached the pitch closely followed by the teachers. He yelled his voice magically louder "Death Eater attack! You-Know-Who is at the Ministry! Heellllllpppppp!" A dark shadow whipped across the grass from the castle to appear as Lord Voldemort before Fudge. "Help" was the last thing that man ever said as green light shot from Voldemort's wand and Fudge immediately crumpled to the ground, very dead.

Harry's scar had burst into pain of 1000 knives at Voldemort's arrival, it felt worse but then he wasn't used to it anymore. He tried to keep from holding his head or showing the pain, having Voldemort find out he was alive was the last thing he needed.

By now the students were running down the stairs in the stands. The teachers on the pitch clearly knew they were no match as they made a dash for the castle not daring to try running past the Dark Lord. Darian was pressed against people in a rush to get to the ground and consequently couldn't see anything until he was out. Once he was down though he sincerely wished he was back in his seat.

The teachers that had headed for the castle had changed direction and were going for the Forbidden Forest. This may seem like a stupid thing to do, but if one were to take into consideration the rather large number of Death Eaters flying over the top of the castle it may seem more like a self preservation thing.

Said Death Eaters abandoned the castle and shot for the ground, more specifically the area with all the students. They came up around the pitch and started attacking everyone, even the little first years. All around him people very screaming and running. They were all making it for the forest which made no sense. Lord Voldemort planned this, why would he leave an escape route? Harry felt the crackle of magic stirring behind him and dove for the ground which he soon discovered was a bad idea. Even under attack a grass stain sucks and gravel digging into your hands still really hurts like a . Spitting out grass that somehow had made its way into his mouth he stood up and glared at his attacker. He had his wand but this would feel much better without it. In a second he gathered his magic and sent it out to the Death Eater. Poor sod went flying and crashed headlong into the stands; he wasn't getting up any time soon.

He spotted a red head that looked like Ginny and moved to run to her when a death eater jumped in his way. The idiot expected Harry to come to a dead halt and probably do the potty dance in circles he was so scared. He was disappointed as Harry kept running straight past him and "accidentally" bumped into him. He lost Ginny in the crowd of people but he did have one small consolation. He pocketed a third wand and moved into another fight.

Hundreds of the students were at the Forests edge now. He felt someone grab his elbow and spun around to give 'em one in the gut but stopped just in time when he saw that it was Duo. He had no time for surprise, Duo was still holding tight to his elbow when he started off for the Forest taking him with him. Now, supposedly this is a nice thing to do, Duo was only trying to help but he had a bad feeling about the forest. Why were they allowed to go in?

They made it to the edge themselves before the trap was sprung. The first sign was a few of the students running for their lives from the forest, the second was the trees that ominously went crashing to the ground just behind them. Looking back to the pitch Harry finally understood they had been herded to the forest on purpose. Something not so good was in there. Unfortunately they had no choice as half a dozen Death Eaters were chasing more students their way, he sure as hell didn't want to risk that!

"Duo, how good are you at fighting?" Harry asked.

"Dirt", was the disappointing answer. "I can hold my own in a fist fight if that helps!"

"Err, not really. Crap, come on!" He rushed to help the kids coming their way; the Death Eaters behind them had just killed one of them. They looked pretty young. He had no problems cursing the ass off their attackers, it was easier than he thought but he couldn't take the ones coming up after that, this was ridiculous! He turned and ran into the forest only to find Duo hiding behind one of the larger trees hands over his head in the fetal position. It might be funny to look back on in the future, if they get to have a future. For now the latter statement is the one to be concerned with. He and Duo ran around the area where all the commotion seemed to be and delved deep into the forest running the whole way.

They came to a small clearing and sat down. This was no good; it gave them time to _think_. Soon more people joined them and they formed a smallish group of nearly a dozen students. There was a seventh year guy there that he didn't know but he wouldn't be a lot of help. If you looked at the crotch of his pants for any reason you would see clearly a darker shade. The guy had wet himself he was so scared. Somehow Fred, George and Ron had stuck together and were there. Lavender Brown was also there but they had tactfully decided to ignore that fact. There was nothing they could do but wait, he didn't have his time turner and he wasn't going to portkey off somewhere unless he had too.

They sat there for what seemed like hours without incident. The crashing of trees and screams had subsided somewhat but every now and then another sound would reach their ears and it was never a cry of victory. The silence in their group was disturbed whenever Harry growled in frustration or laughed with glee. It was creepy but it did keep at least one person up to date on the happenings. So far it didn't appear that anybody had won.

Harry smiled with satisfaction before he gasped at the sudden rush of memories and the cold. Nobody else seemed to notice anything; dementors affected him worse than most people.

He stood up and turned to where he felt it came from. He took out his wand and indicated that everyone else should do the same. "Can anyone here get rid of a dementor?"

"There is one spell, I'm outta practice on it though." Ron ventured. "Can anyone do the patronus charm?"

Only a few said they could sorta get a mist thing. There was no time to practice as the dementors drifted across the clearing. Harry tried to fight it, tried to ignore the voices and images in his head. There were so many dementors though! And nobody except him could do this thing right. He couldn't though, he just... _Take Harry and Run! Go! Sirius falling through the veil... _He couldn't see anyone, he couldn't think. He was crying and he didn't even know it. _Cedric lying next to him, his eyes blank...Voldemort rising from the cauldron, he was alive…_

Fuck it. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. "Expecto Patronum!" Darian yelled. He knew he shouldn't have done it, a stag charged fully corporal from his wand and the dementors turned and would have run, as it was they simply glided in a very quick fashion. He didn't dare relax until the last one was gone.

He fell on the grass gasping for air and shivering, he realized his face was wet from sweat and tears and hastily wiped his face on his grass stained robe. (hopefully Sirius didn't like that particular robe too much)

Fighting back the urge to up-chuck his lunch he looked at the others gathered. He saw respect and gratefulness in most eyes. The Weasleys and Lavender were shocked; from the way they were staring at him he knew they recognized his patronus. If Fred and George had never actually seen it they sure as hell had heard about it.

"Harry?" Ron asked.


	19. In Serious Shit

In Serious Shit

"Wait, wait I can explain!", he said desperately and to the rest gathered he added "Over there, we'll be right back."

He motioned for them to follow him and they moved closer to the trees. "Guys listen, I'm sorry! I couldn't tell anyone! Really, Lav, I couldn't tell anyone. I had to do something; you all know how much Voldemort wants me dead." They flinched at the name and given the circumstances he couldn't blame them for that.

"You prat!" Fred and George said in unison.

"Can you imagine how guilty we felt!"-

"For not telling people that you were sneaking out? We thought"-

"You were out of your relative's house to visit us again!" The twins were quite a scary sight. By the end of their rant they were yelling pretty loud. Harry was sure they were going to beat him to a pulp and therefore was very surprised when they squashed him in a bear hug. Lavender didn't seem to know what to say and had taken up a moment of silence. If he thought the truth would make her quiet he would have told her ages ago!

"You bastard! You lied to me!" Ron yelled andhaving pushedFred and George out of the way tackled him to the ground. Harry fell flat on his back. Winded and gasping for air he tried to get Ron off of him. Ron straddled his waist and didn't hesitate to lay down a punch, Ron's fist made contract with his nose and before he could get down another the twins were heaving their brother off him. He rolled over to catch his breath and blood trickled onto the grass. He tasted blood in his mouth and putting his hand under his nose discovered the origin of it. His nose didn't feel broken so he allowed Lavender helped him up.

Ron was still struggling with his brothers but Harry made sure to stay a safe distance away. The other students had run over when they saw the fight, this was no longer a private issue.

"Your uncle eh _Darian_? I wonder what Sirius would think of that? But wait, doesn't matter, all your family is dead!" Ron said trying to get a rise out of him.

"Don't you talk about Sirius! My parents' is one thing, and bash the Dursley's all ye want. But Sirius stays outta this." Harry said dead serious.

Ron struggled harder and was about to say something nasty when Harry cut him off. "My uncle or not, Remus is always gunna be something to me, but you wouldn't understand that. You take everything you have for granite! In the mirror you saw exactly what you have now, the Prefect badge, captain, hell you would have won the bloody cup! For that matter, you should thank me. If I came back as Harry Potter, I'd have the captaincy."

That put Ron over the edge as he broke free and charged. He had his wand out and ready but didn't get a chance to use it. Ron suddenly stopped and fell back; apparently he had run into a solid albeit invisible wall just away feet from him. Ouch. Ron didn't get back up; he had hit his head on it and was out for now at least.

"Well he had that coming." Fred or George said. (Can't really be sure which one.)

"Um, I'm sure you've got more questions but they can wait until we're safe somewhere _private_ right?" He said to the twins, wiggling his eyebrows. They nodded and he continues to the rest of the group. "Alrighty, Fred and George fix up Ron. I wanna show the rest of you something.

Harry asked them to group together as it would be easier if he didn't have to look in every direction. They did so and he pointed his wand at them, unsure if this was quite the best idea, and before they could decide to move he cried "Obliviate!" It was hard to cast on so many people and left him breathless. They had been learning how to do it in defense but most hadn't gotten it as it took a lot of magic. His victims were dazed for a few moments before they came back to themselves. "Are you all right?" He asked them. "We were under attack, I can't believe you chased them all off!"

"What, who?" Some of them asked.

"You don't remember? Oh good, I mean, really? Too bad, you were amazing. Lavender, you don't remember either?" She shook her head. Harry grinned very pleased with himself (they probably thought someone hit him with an insanity curse) and marched over to the twins and their unconscious brother and whispered "hey guys don't say anything alright?" They could keep a secret. He should have obliviated Ron too but you can't on an unconscious person and besides, it was about time Ron figured it out.

"What happened to your nose mister?" One of the younger students asked as he spat out some blood that had made it's way into his mouth. Ew.

"One of the Death Eaters got me, I'm fine though, heh heh heh." He didn't know how to make it stop bleeding; he'd never had a bloody nose before. Could be a tad problematic.

"Um, that always happens to my brother. He pinches his nose like this ab owers is ad ike dis" another explained. He thought the kid was misinformed. Wouldn't doing that make it bleed more? Feh, he did it just to appease shorty.

"Where's Duo?" He asked no one in particular. When nobody seemed to know he thought back, the last time he saw him was on the way to the clearing, Harry had been running in the lead, Duo must've gone another way. He thought that Duo had sat down behind him, ooops. Well he really had no time to worry about that. He growled with a frustration that was not his own, Voldie was frustrated? That can't be good. Disappointed would be good, angry even, but frustrated meant he needed someones' to take it out on.

One of the students suddenly screamed out and squirmed on the ground in pain. Harry could recognize that spell just by hearing the scream, crucio. Harry instinctively floored himself to the ground and prayed that the tall grass would keep him hidden while everyone else ran in the same direction and close together, they probably thought they were safer that way. Death Eaters ran after them from the forestright past him.

A cry to his left told him the Weasley's were down, they hadn't run but stayed with Ron instead. So there was at least one Death Eater still hiding in the forest. He had to do something. "Scatter!" He yelled as loud as he could. "Separate and run!" He yelled again just in case they didn't get it the first time. Well, he'd given away his position now.

He turned around to see the Death Eater come out and run at him. He stood up and dodged a stunner. He had dropped his wand when Ron had punched him so he took out his first one. The Death Eater came up close, Harry shot a series of cutters and bone breaking curses hoping disable his attacker. He didn't stop to see if any hit as the Death Eater was retaliating. A perfect disarm spell hit his wrist and he dropped his wand which flew straight to his attacker. Growling he back-flipped away till he was at a better distance and retrieved another wand from his robes, the one he had stolen earlier.

"How many fucking wands do you fucking fucked up fucker have!" The death eater asked in a bout of frustration. Although frustration would be an understatement. His voice was deep like Harry's so the Death Eater looked slightly foolish when he stomped his feet. The guy was having a temper tantrum!

_Wait, I know that voice _Harry thought. "Flint?" He asked in disbelief. "Marcus Flint? Your kidding!"

"Shut up! How do you know my name?" He took off the mask to reveal a man that was unmistakably the former Slytherin Quidditch Captain. "You a Slytherin?"

Harry was tired of talking and attacked strong. Whipping his wand or his head he formed what looked like a really long skipping rope and lashed at Flint. It connected with Flint's side as he had failed to dodge it. Consequently it sent him flying into as ridiculously large tree (seriously it was the biggest and hardest tree for miles, just for Flint) and his head connected with the trunk. Needless to say he did not get up.

Harry ran over to the Weasleys to find Ron in much the same state as he had left him and Fred and George had been stunned. He woke them up and left them with Ron. He was just about to enter the forest hopefully in the direction of Hogwarts when a twin called behind him "See ya Prongs Jr!"

The Death Eater appeared fed up and ripped off his mask. Professor Lupin somehow wasn't surprised, just extremely pissed off. "Snape" he said getting into a battle stance.

"Lupin" he replied, his face impassive. The fight began. It was a brutal thing, there was a lot of hate there even though most of the time both parties tried to ignore the fact. Snape finally went down dead and a very exhausted Remus limped away from the scene.

Remus jumped off his rock (literally, what else was he supposed to sit on) when he saw Harry and ran over to him. "Your hurt" Remus said. It was a statement not a question. Remus didn't look so good himself, Harry noted that Moony had limped over to him and was just exhausted.

"I'm fine" he protested as Moony's finger grazed down his bruised neck. It must have been worse than he thought because Moony didn't even glance at his nose. After he left the Weasleys (he was looking for Hogwarts again hoping to save the school or do something otherwise helpful) he ran into a few problems. He almost got strangled to death for one thing. So by the time he finally got back to the deeper part of the forest he was just a little banged up.

Remsu asked "was it you that made the thunder?"

"Errr, ya sorry about that. At least it didn't rain right?" Harry replied hopefully. The thunder storm had been a complete accident, his emotions were running too high perhaps? In any case his "mistake" had saved his life.

Harry continued "Anyway we need to obliviate the Death Eaters that attacked us, they saw and overheard some things." Remus nodded and together they obliviated them all. More specifically Remus obliviated all but the one Harry did before stealing Remus's sitting rock.

The students wanted to know what they could possibly have overheard as to their knowledge no real conversation had taken place. "We'll talk about that later. I believe it's time we left, don't you agree Darian?" Remus asked.

"Are you nuts?" was Harry's expected reply. "There are still people out there, we have to help them!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" the other teacher asked. Harry didn't know that teachers name but decided that he didn't like said character. "We have children here, including you! We can't help them, and _if_ we leavem, where do we go? We should stay here, wait until we can't here the screaming anymore and pray that we won." Harry saw that there was nothing he could do to sway that person so he said nothing, besides the teacher could always stay behind and baby sit the younger ones.

Turning to the teacher Remus asked "Will you stay here and watch that scum?" He of course was referring to the Death Eaters.

When the professor nodded in the affirmative Remus went on to explain. "Darian has a portkey to my apartment in London. We are going to take it and get out of here. You and the older students should stay here and make sure they don't try anything. When it is safe take them to Albus. If we lose the school, I know it is cold to say this; you'll have to kill them. They are better to us dead than with their master. But I'm sure you knew that."

The teacher had something to say about all this and pointed at Darian "but why does _he _get to leave?" said the teacher acting like a two year old, minus the drool. Oh, no wait, scratch that. He was like a two year old. Period.

"Because he is injured, because he is my nephew and because I say so. Gotta problem with that?" Remus was an inch from the poor sods face now and glaring hard. The teacher cowered and fell off the log he was sitting on. Wonder if the prat knew Remus was a werewolf?

Remus turned back to everyone looking very satisfied with himself. Then Fred and George arrived with Ron through the woods. "Merlin Ron, lose some weight", one of them complained at their still unconscious brother. That typically isn't a good sign, it had been a long time since that fight. On the topic, after so long a time how did they gather up all the Death Eaters?And get most ofthe kids from the clearing together?

Lavender and the seventh year agreed to stay behind with the teacher. Fred and George claimed that if they were going to die in the war then they were bloody well going to see the last marauders home, it was in their best interest to look after Ron and Harry caught a look from them that said y_ou owe us a conversation._

The rest gathered around Darian and Remus held out the necklace.


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue

Harry was now used to port-keys after having to use it to get to Quidditch everyday. The trip wasn't any less unpleasant, the only improvement was in his landing which had evolved from crashing on his rump to letting himself fall. Before he resisted the landing but he found that if you embraced it, it tended to work much better. As a result Harry landed soundly resting on one knee.

He stood up only to be shoved sideways trip over something and fall over. He got up again rubbing his side and evaluated the mess. A few students had fallen over, possibly this was their first port-key ride. Consequently they helped make everyone else fall too.

"Everyone alright?" A mature male voice called over the mess of students.

"Remus?" Harry replied and quickly found the man under the Weasley twins who were fighting over who would get up first. Then they realized they were on someone and carefully got up. Fred or George reached down to help their victim up and upon seeing it was Moony quickly let go. It was quite funny, Remus went down with a resounding thump and said twin looked shocked.

"George!" the other twin exclaimed. "How dare you squash the great Moony and then drop his fuzzy body on the ground!"

"You squashed him too!" George complained.

"Fine, quiet down you two. I'm only asking once, who needs medical attention in here?" A few students complained of injuries but nothing fatal. "Where's Ronald? He was unconscious…"

All the students got up and stood on one side of the room, altogether this idea didn't really work as the room was rather small. Ron was easily recovered and laid out on the floor. Remus examined Ron's head. It had stopped bleeding but he had a rather nice bump. He was about to try waking him when Harry Fred and George yelled in unison "NO!"

This cry was met with silence and strange looks. "Err" Hrry attempted. "I think he's fine like he is, he hasn't been getting enough sleep." The twins nodded in agreement and apparently having remembered something and gave Harry what could be called a significant look.

Remus decided to explain a few things and spoke up addressing the students. "We are at my flat in London; I have to ask that none of you get hungry or get the urge to go to the bathroom. Do not touch anything. I am sure we will be returning to Hogwarts in the morning. Please do not ask to mail your family as I am lacking owls and parchment and writing utensils of any kind. Do not be noisy and so try to relax. Fred, Geroge, help me set up some mattresses here. And get rid of the furniture."

"Sir yes sir!" the twins replied smartly. Fred added "We will keep the kiddos quite for you Mr. Moony!"

"And we will refrain from pranking them too!" George added.

"I'll be back in a moment."

Remus turned to Harry and indicated they go in the next room. Once in the kitchen they sat at the table and Harry stated "wow Moony, that was smooth."

"Well thank you. Before we get to the important stuff, why don't you want me to wake your friend up?"

Harry sighed and thought for a minute. "He wasn't my friend this year really, even though I acted like my old self around him and Hermione. Between running for our lives and fighting we all sat in this clearing to wait it out and we got in a fight see. I have to tell you that isn't that uncommon in itself but this time it was because he figured out who I am. He_ knows_ Remus and he isn't too happy about it, we don't want him making a scene. Remus what is going to happen?"

"He'll calm down; he's probably just missed you. But we'll leave him anyway, maybe I can come up with something to keep him out for a bit. Remus became serious and continued "Do you really want to help with the fight?"

"Yes!" Harry said raising his voice. He had already made that one clear hadn't he!

"Alright, I don't believe for a minute we can keep those students calm, soon they'll get bored and start to think. Thinking is the last thing we need right now, some of them might be up for heroics too. And we have to find out how the school is doing."

"We're winning." Harry stated

"Eh? How do you know?" Remus asked confused.

Pointing to his forehead where his scar was hidden he said "Believe me; I'd know if he was winning. A minute ago _he _was still frustrated." Remus didn't look pleased by his explanation, only worried. "Voldie can't do anything to me through it, its fine." He thought for a moment then said excitedly "we can use my port-key to get to Dumbledore's office then storm the death eaters from behind!"

"No, I can't do that. If you were any other student-" Remus let the thought open. Right, Remus's job was to keep him safe. Well he could always do something rash and go himself. But all things considered, not he greatest idea. In an attempt to change the topic Remus asked "how is your neck?"

"Its fine just bruised up at bit. Actually I'm gunna use the washroom, be right back."

Harry walked back out a little later minus a cloak and a bloody nose (although it was now rather purple). He found Remus in the living room conjuring mattresses with the twins.

"Hey" someone said next to him. Turning he saw Lavender who was teary eyed.

"Hey" he replied. Deciding that this was too awkward he made to go lay down when she touched his shoulder which was slightly lower than hers. Casting aside the fact that they weren't going out anymore he hugged her, she probably lost some friends today. Why aren't you helping with the beds?"

"I lost my w- wand in the forest" she said sniffling. For all that is holy she had better not cry.

"Here, have one of these" Darian offered pulling out some random death eaters wand.

"Why do you have another one? Whose is it?" Lavender asked, curious as she was. Although curious was just a polite word for nosy.

"I stole it off a death eater" At her shocked look he added attempting to keep her from crying "don't worry, I'm sure he doesn't need it anymore." Her lips trembled. "No, no, no, no Lav, don't cry _please_. We actually aren't that bad off." Her eyes turned glassy and the students were starting to get upset. "Oh fine. We are stuck in my uncle's sad excuse for a house. We can't use the washroom as he has no toilet paper and the toilet doesn't have a lever on it, the sink is broken in the washroom and the only working tap is in the kitchen but even that one is piss poor. The company is not talkative and we don't know each other. The Weasley's are going to prank us endlessly and I smell bad! The ceiling is chipping off so it leaks and-"

Darian had to stop here as everyone was laughing. Maybe it was because he did smell bad. Hopefully it was because they were all stressed out and needed a break.

A while later Harry left the room and found Moony putting some kids to sleep in the corner of his room.

"Where'd Fred and George go?" he asked.

"They went back to Hogwarts a few minutes ago."

"What!" Harry turned around and hopped for the door. He only made it halfway before he got irresistibly sleepy and hit the soft mattress beneath him, not to wake until morning.

"Night Darian." Remus Lupin muttered in apology for hitting the boy whom he considered like a son with a sleeper curse. Technically not a curse as it was used in medicine, Remus reasoned with himself.

He ended up having to do that spell to pretty much everyone. The next morning Fred and George returned with Dumbledore and some backup, more specifically the emergency squad. Remus had been the one who suggested the groups existence. The squad was sent on small tasks and called up for emergencies, so they didn't really get bored. Apparently the numbers had grown a bit as a dozen squad members stood behind the Headmaster.

Remus hadn't slept a wink and it showed. In addition to being battered and worn out, now he was also sleep deprived and hungry. However pleasantries cannot ever be ignored so he welcomed everyone graciously.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" Remus yelled at the greatly esteemed Headmaster Dumbledore. Said Headmaster was rather put out, the Defense Professor was gratuitously rude.

"Why Remus, pleasure to see you. I see you kept everyone in good health. In answer to your, er, question, I have come to collect my staff member and students. How is your, what was it… nephew? I'd like to see it."

Ignoring Dumbledore's request to see Harry (or as Dumbbledore called him, it) Remus said "fine, we are all fine Albus. How is the school?" Remus asked irritated.

"Come now, let's not wake everyone, see if we can't find some wood flooring in this apartment hmmm? We'll have some tea."

Remus Lupin's eye started twitching. Dumbldore refused to think anything of it but the twins who by now knew the former marauder very well rushed over to him and linking their arms around his turned him around and led everybody to the bathroom, the only place that didn't have any beds.

Fred, who was still wearing the orange vest from the night before played the host. "Please try not to step on anyone's limbs, though they are hard to spot I'm sure-", someone on the floor yelped, "that we can manage." The squad members had to wait outside as there just wasn't any room. It was getting a bit ridiculous now.

Remus couldn't help but notice that George had a splint on his left leg and so wasn't walking on it and Fred had a real nice slice through his sleeve on his right sleeve, probably a bandage underneath. _So when they went back there was still fighting._ Remus observed. No surprise there. The four of them sat on conjured chairs in Remus's bathroom, hopefully Dumbledore brought good news.

Dumbledore got straight to business. Putting a silencer on the door he settled down and put on his authoritative face. "The school has been secured. I placed anti apparition and port-key wards up, anything to keep people from disappearing. The Order is out in the forest looking for any survivors. It doesn't look good. Many of our students have been killed and more injured. We have sent them to St. Mungos, we can only hope it doesn't fall to an attack soon. The auroras are all busy, seems after they were done with the ministry building death eaters took a stroll around London. That can be cleaned up, it is our government that is the problem. All things considered, we don't really have one any more. I believe the school will remain open, if only because there is nobody in power to close it."

Dumbledore sighed and went on "this is a great loss, for both sides. Apparently a powerful thunder storm destroyed a good number of death eaters and many others were killed in fights. The only thing positive about this is the reduction in his ranks. Most of our staff remains alive, the only casualty being Professor Snape. We lost our best spy."

Here Remus had to ignore a guilty conscious, after all he didn't have any proof that Severus had been with the death eaters, Hell the man probably just wanted to kill him. If Severus had been loyal the whole time, well, oooops.

Fred spoke up breaking the depressing silence "Our best spy right? We have others, maybe they'll get promoted." George nodded in agreement. Remus looked at them like they were nuts, Fred made it sound like their spies would simply get a pay rise at the French fries stand. How Remus ever ended up getting the twins as worshippers was beyond him.

"Wake the students, we are returning to the school. Where is erm, your Darian thing." Dumbledore was clearly having a problem calling Harry by his fake name.

"Albus the twins know its Harry. And so does Ronald Weasley." Remus seemed to be thinking, maybe they could just carry Ron back. Harry seemed to think he'd be a problem…

"Least of our problems Remus, apparently a few death eaters got word and I'm sure have wasted no time in telling their Lord." Remus paled slightly. "If they don't know who he was disguised as I am sure they will waste no time in finding out. Young Harry can go back to his normal self any time. I daresay his little jaunt is over."

Ignoring the "little jaunt" part Remus strode to the bathroom door and left leaving it open. Hopping on all the mattresses he quickly woke everyone up. He shooed everyone out of his room and quickly informed Harry of his reappearance at the top of Voldemort's must kill list. How many times had Voldemort been sure Harry was dead, every year but third? It was actually rather hilarious, the boy just keeps coming back, how frustrated the Dark Lord must be.

They banished the mattresses and Remus was left with an apartment lacking furniture of any kind. Well he could always buy new furniture. He had money now.

The squad led them to the nearest connected fireplace and they appeared in the waiting room at St. Mungos. A few students were quickly tended to by nurses and told they could leave, they had more severely injured patients to attend to. People not in mortal peril (like Harry) were to sit in this room to wait for a doctor. Eventually the injured were relocated to their own individual room to wait for the doctor, on after another. Forever later a grumbling Harry sat in a chair across from Remus. A doctor was _shoved _into the room by one of the squad members who was apparently anxious to leave.

He was given something for his bruised nose and neck, and side, and his right hand, well lets just say Harry had taken it worse than he thought, a few other minor injuries but altogether fine. While they were getting him medical attention they had the doctor counter Mme Pomphrey's work with his bone structure. Dumbledore did say Voldemort knew so he could go back to being himself.

Resisting the urge to ask the front desk if his friends were there they left and using the Floo network again, returned to Hogwarts. They went straight to the Great Hall where they found all the students that weren't sent to the hospital or otherwise dead. The number wasn't as small as it could have been but Harry was frightened to see they were mostly over fourth year. _Sod it, we are screwed, _Harry thought to himself. It was quite sad. What a coincidence it was that most of the Slytherins remained in the Hall. He could just make out Malfoy laughing with his friends. _Laughing_, surely he didn't find it amusing?

They walked toward the general gaggle of people and Dumbledore spoke up, getting their attention. "Students and staff, I have returned to bring you some good news. People at St. Mungos are all being treated and I have recovered some of our missing students and Professor Lupin."

"If you will all take a seat I believe we could all do with some indigestion. Following which you may all mail your families but I have to ask that you do not bring them all to the school. If you wish to visit that can be arranged, however I recommend nobody return home for the year. The school year is almost complete, t'would be a waste to see an entire years worth of effort wasted. The school will remain open for the duration of the school year. Now gather round, brunch will be along momentarily." Dumbledore had banished the house tables to create one long one, acceptable considering the lack of students.

The students sat and for the most part, looked entirely glum. Some laid their heads on the table and cried some just wouldn't stay still, probably worried about someone. This behavior is expected. What was really upsetting was the Slytherins (more specifically Dracoand his crew) who seemed jubilant at the outcome. Harry sat directly across from Draco, not the best luck. There was no doubt they at least knew about the attacks beforehand, duh, why else would they miss the Quidditch match to stay inside? Harry was shocked yet somehow not surprised. Shocked that they were important enough to be informed of oncoming apocalypses, but not surprised at their neglect to at least hint to everyone else of approaching doom. Jerks.

No one really ate a whole lot, the suppressive atmosphere effectively drove away the desire to eat. Instead Harry listened to the conversations, Lupin was telling the staff about his "nephew's identity, which was actually a good idea. Lav was silent, perhaps a new very positive habit, Neville was slightly banged up and was seated directly on his left. It was hard to forget as Neville kept losing his balance on the bench and hitting him. Truly the only interesting topic was Draco's.

"It's only a matter of time now." Draco's boring monotonous voice declared. "This school is finished, hopefully now my mother will allow me into Durmstrang. I wonder if Proffesor Snape is hiding over there, he's not stupid enough to get himself killed you know. Crabbe, was it your father that said he heard Potter was still kicking?" See? Interesting.

"Ummmmm, yes. And more - I - think." Crabbe's brain was a hard thing to understand, his speech even more so.

"Other death eaters too?" Apparently Draco was a good translator. "Well, the Dark Lord will have been told by now. I hope I find him first, they said they didn't know who he was right? I wish we had a description. Hey Darian did you see him?"

Harry made the mistake of looking up when his "name" was called. Draco clearly realized who he was immediately; the understanding part came a bit slower.

He stood up suddenly, goblet still in his hand and pointing at him accusingly screeched "y-you! Potter? How dare you show up here! What, were you pretending to be Darian the whole year?"

"Argh, sit down Draco, please." Harry practically begged. He was starting to get a headache. He was not in the mood for explanations.

"Hell no! Were you here all year? What are you thinking you dumbass, of course the Dark Lord would find out eventually!" Draco was really turning up the volume now. If his exclamation hadn't got their attention from the first then he sure had now. You just don't mention the name of a mass murderer to a table of people under circumstances like this.

At the mention of Voldemort Harry's anger revved up. Draco's goblet cracked loudly and frightened by this occurrence peroxide king dropped it onto the table. In doing so he prevented himself from a trip to the infirmary. It rolled for a moment before it exploded sending pieces across the table.

"What the fuck is that? You did that? You could have blown my hand off! That's not allowed right?" Draco asked looking for backup from the staff. Not likely.

"I could have blown your hand of any time all year Draco, and yes I'm not really a pureblooded Everson. I'm Harry Potter and you were kind of my friend all year."

Very conscious of their audience and the teachers that were now standing, prepared to step in if need be Draco didn't bite back. Instead he went on a power trip "You could have blown it off anytime. Whatever, the Dark Lord already knows your around, it's just a matter of time before he gets you for good." Draco said this very proudly, maybe he forgot about the busted cup on the table, and maybe not so conscious of the onlookers, or not concerned.

"The "Dark Lord" can't be that great, we're still here, more to the point I didn't die. I faked it dipshit, I am alive." Turning to everyone else present he made a bit of a formal apology. "I'm sorry I had to deceive everyone, I was just tired of getting shot at." He didn't really get to say much more as Draco pulled out his wand.

"You and me Potter, outside. I'll fix that hair for you." His eyes were full of hate. What a skitso, one minute its "Darian buddy!", next its "Piss off Potter". So feeling fed he was about to retaliate when Dumbldore stepped in.

Nobody got to cure anybody into oblivion as Dumbledore stood up and demanding silence and that they sit down explained everything to the very confused group of people. Technically not everything, just enough to verify that yes it was really Harry Potter, no he wasn't dead, no Darian Everson isn't a real person and that they faked his death for his safety. They weren't about to reveal all the lovely and perfectly illegal stuff.

The next few days were the worst. It was a time of worry and grief, the dead were collected and all that concerned them had to be taken care of. People came and went from Hogwarts and for the most part the students took Albus's advice. As the days went by the hospitalized students returned. The death rate wasn't as bad as they had initially feared and soon classes were underway. Nobody really paid much attention though.

Ronald was fine, just a bump on the head. He had at first leapt from his hospital bed with the intention of strangling Harry. However, during his hours spent suspended in mid air, curtisy of Harry, Ronald revised this plan and forgave him. They became friends again though they will never be as close as before. Everybody from seventh year survived, a sixth year Hufflepuff went missing and has yet to be found, but nobody Harry knew personally. In that he was extremely lucky. Even Duo made it out okay, he did get stepped on though and has the boot print to prove it.

His newer friends couldn't think for a while when they were told who their friend Darian was, in short they reacted quite well. One of his old girlfriends commented that she was shocked Harry Potter could be such a son of a who and is a but that is besides the point. His old friends Miss Lovegood and Miss Weasley burst into tears when they saw him, Longbottom was sad, seemed to think he deserved to let in on the secret or something. Hermione of course knew and got glared at a lot for it.

The press was going crazy with headings like, "Harry Potter Saves Hogwarts", Harry Potter's Fraud, Everson Who?" and this Professors favourite "The-Boy-Who-Lived, AGAIN". He probably would have been brought to court for multiple charges of fraud and myself for falsifying parental documents and guardianship and well, just an extensive list for both of them. Fortunately the Ministry was busy trying to reorganize and pardoned the whole fiasco.

The Weasley twins hired a few extra cahiers and spent much of their time conversing with and stalking their amazing handsome and intelligent hero, former marauder. The rest was spent visiting Molly and Arthur for family time and nagging Harry. He was after all the son of a marauder, a good enough excuse to worship someone. Because of this sad revelation the WWW soon developed an entire section dedicated to Harry Potter merchandise. For some reason Harry was forbidden from ever entering that part of the store, suspicious?

As of yet a new Minister of Magic has not been elected, the vice was temporarily filling in. Umbridge was in locked up somewhere, she had supposedly taken a hit to the arm and the dark mark was revealed on her arm and signs showed that it was recent. In any case, she was a new recruit who easily got caught and trial was pending.

"Harry you coming?" the man who was not currently being watched by overeager twins called. They were back in London and he couldn't wait to flop out on the dusty couch… entirely empty apartment… Damn.

"Keep your pants on Moony, I'm just getting Hedwig." A moment later the squirt was at his side and carrying the bird.

"You had better start sucking up now Harry. You have to live with me all summer."

"I don't know how I'll survive, but the first thing we're doing is getting a new house, a new apartment at least. I don't care if this one is free; the renovation just isn't worth it. My cleaning spells aren't _that_ great."

"You can't use your wand anyway, no magic over the summer remember? If you misbehave I can chuck you out the window." Perhaps a little too happy about the boys disadvantage…

"Who said I need a wand?"

THE END


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